Hundreds of Muslims have held a rally in New York to protest alleged religious profiling in their community by the city's police department.

Demonstrators gathered in lower Manhattan Friday to call on police to stop surveillance of the Muslim community.

The city of New York police department was recently accused in an investigative news report by the Associated Press of infiltrating mosques, spying on Muslim student groups, cataloguing Middle Eastern restaurants and compiling data on Arab cab drivers.

In a sermon at Friday's rally, Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid said Muslims in the United States are both faithful and uncompromisingly American.

The demonstration was peaceful and passed without incident.

New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Friday that the department does not engage in racial profiling. He said officers follow leads wherever those leads may take them.