PEOPLE WHO SURVIVED the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre won’t be allowed to attend a commemoration of the atrocity.

Members of the World Trade Centre Survivors’ Network have been told they are not invited to this year’s memorial event, which will mark a decade since the attacks that killed 2,753 people in the Twin Towers. The ceremony will be held at the official 9/11 memorial for the first time – and is for relatives of the victims only, the New York mayor’s office said.

“In years past, members of this survivors’ group were permitted to attend once it was clear that attendance numbers of victims’ family members would allow it,” spokesman Andrew Brent told DNA Info. “The commemoration ceremony is for victims’ family members, and this year – on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 – the expectation is there will be no opportunity for members of the [survivors'] group to attend.”

Some survivors reacted angrily to the news, with 38-year-old Shannon Loy calling it “a real slap in the face”. Acting president of the WTC Survivors’ Network Richard Zimbler told Fox News: “We do intend to be there one way or another however.”

The group has managed to acquire 75 tickets for members to visit the memorial on the following day, September 12, DNA Info reports.