Hartford (AP) - Two city council members on Wednesday denounced e-mails they said they received criticizing Muslim prayers at council meetings.

Council President rJo Winch, joined by Councilman Luis Cotto, took to a news conference a stack of e-mails that criticized in harsh and sometimes bigoted language Muslim clerics who offer the prayers.

Winch and Cotto say Islam has been represented with other religions offering prayers at the biweekly council meetings in Hartford.

"I think it's deplorable," Winch said. "When we have so much going on (and) people use this opportunity to spread hate."

She said she believes the hostile messages coincide with the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the national debate over a proposed Islamic center and mosque near ground zero and plans by a Gainesville, Fla., minister to burn Qurans to commemorate the 2001 attacks.

"We invited all to come out," she said. "We've never turned down one clergy."

Winch, a Democrat, showed e-mails she said she received that criticized Hartford officials as ignorant and as failing to separate religious activities from city council meetings. She didn't publicly identify the senders of the messages.

"You're a sick individual," one e-mail said. "You should be ashamed of yourself."

Another correspondent criticized Hartford for ignoring the influx of Muslims into Europe, where there have been culture clashes, violent street protests and heated debates over issues such as Muslim head scarves.

Cotto, of the Working Families Party, said Hartford has received "similar venom" in e-mails when city officials criticized Arizona's immigration law and took other positions on issues not directly related to Hartford.