New York, New York - New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing backlash after he attended a 9/11 memorial event in spite of Republican demands to skip it.

Mamdani attended the ceremony at Ground Zero on Friday to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the attacks.

Prior to the appearance, a number of his critics had called on him to skip the event, including former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who heroically led the city during the tragedy.

Giuliani demanded that Mamdani not attend because of his Muslim faith, and said that he was a part of an Islamic "takeover" of the US.

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At the event, video footage caught the moment in which Mamdani saw Giuliani and approached him.

The two then shook hands, Mamdani smiling as they exchanged a few words before moving on.

Family members of those killed on 9/11 also launched a Change.org petition to stop the mayor's appearance, which garnered over 113,000 signatures.

The petition lists a number of issues with the current mayor.

These include his ties to controversial figures like Hassan Piker, whose past rhetoric allegedly promotes violence, and his appointment of Ramzi Kassem as New York City’s chief counsel, whose past legal work includes representing an al-Qaeda terrorist.

When asked in an interview with CBS News what he and Giuliani said to each other, Mamdani insisted they "just shook hands" as he believes they both wanted to ensure the focus be on the families and first responders.

Mamdani's appearance has since been met with heavy backlash from the right. Some attendees told Fox News that they found his decision to show up "disrespectful" and "very offensive," with one arguing it was "not supposed to be a political event."

On social media, a number of critics – including Texas Senator Ted Cruz – have been sharing a clip from the event that appears to show Mamdani and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez smiling and exchanging pleasantries, which they insist shows them "laughing" as the names of victims were being read out loud.

Friday's event at Ground Zero was attended by every living former president, except for current President Donald Trump, who was caught dozing off during another 9/11 event at the Pentagon.