Greg Toppo

USATODAY

More than 1,000 people filled New York's Times Square on Sunday, waving American flags and holding signs saying "No Muslim Ban."

The "I Am A Muslim Too" rally, designed to support Muslim Americans and protest President Trump's immigration policies, was organized by several groups, including the non-profit organization Foundation for Ethnic Understanding (FFEU).

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told the crowd that America is "a country founded to protect all faiths and all beliefs."

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Hip-Hop mogul Russell Simmons said the Muslim community was being used as a scapegoat, but that "diversity will prevail."

He headlined the event, joined by several religious leaders, including Imam Shamsi Ali of the Jamaica Muslim Center, who served as grand marshal of New York City's Muslim Day Parade last fall, ABC News reported.

In a statement issued last week, Simmons said: "We are living in a time when unity will make America great. This is a special moment for all Americans of goodwill to band together to promote the kind of compassion and equality for others that we want for ourselves."

Rabbi Marc Schneier, FFEU's president, co-organized the first "Today, I Am A Muslim Too" in 2010, ABC reported.

In a statement, Rabbi Schneier said: "We must join together at the most famous crossroads in the world to make a collective statement that, 'Whenever my Muslim brothers and sisters are demonized and vilified, discriminated against or victimized by hate crimes and violence, 'Today, I am a Muslim too.'"

Sunday's event came one day after a larger march in downtown Los Angeles, in which thousands of activists marched to oppose immigration enforcement raids, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Activists, who want a fund to provide legal assistance to immigrants, demanded that local officials take concrete steps to thwart what they called President Trump's “deportation machine."

Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow Greg Toppo on Twitter: @gtoppo

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