Two people were arrested on Saturday after potential explosive devices were used during a protest outside the official residence of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
The devices were found by New York City police officers during a scheduled anti-Islam demonstration near Gracie Mansion on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Counter-protester Amir Balat, 18, who joined about 125 people at a rival demonstration, allegedly lit and threw a device at the anti-Islam group, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said a press conference Saturday evening.
The device, which emitted smoke and flames, struck a barrier but did not explode and later extinguished. Balat then allegedly ran and got a second device from a 19-year-old accomplice, lit it, then dropped the object. Both individuals have been arrested.
“No injuries or property damage have been reported at this time,” an NYPD spokesperson told The Independent.
“The ‘Crusade Against Islamification’ gathering held outside Gracie Mansion today by Jake Lang, a vile white supremacist, was despicable and Islamophobic,” mayoral press secretary Joe Calvello told The Independent in a statement. “Thankfully, the Mayor and the First Lady are both safe, though the events are a stark reminder of the threats they both face regularly.”
It is unclear if the mayor or first lady were present at the mansion at the time of the protest.
Mamdani, a Democrat, is the first Muslim to be elected mayor of New York, and he faced waves of Islamophobic rhetoric on the campaign trail.
Tisch said it was unclear if the devices were real. They are being analyzed by police.
Photos from the scene appeared to show one of the devices, a round object wrapped in metallic tape.
At the demonstration, held on East End Avenue, just outside Gracie Mansion, a group of about 20 far-right supporters clashed with a contingent of counter-protesters on Saturday afternoon.
The latter group was present for an event they dubbed "Run the Nazis Out of New York City/Stand Against Hate.”
In a statement on X, Lang claimed two men threw bombs at him in an “assassination attempt.” He shared footage of himself and his supporters running when one of the devices landed nearby.
“I am so grateful to be alive,” Lang wrote in another post.
He shared a photo appearing to show the second of the two devices, this one wrapped in black tape with nail-like objects sticking out its sides.
Elsewhere during the demonstration, a far-right protester reportedly pepper-sprayed members of the opposing group. “Four people got hit, at least,” an eyewitness told amNewYork. That individual was also arrested, Tisch said.
At one point in the chaos, Lang walked a goat through the crowd. At a Friday night vigil in New York City for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran killed in U.S. strikes on February 28, Lang appeared with a goat and manhandled it during a derogatory rant about Muslims.
At the Gracie Mansion event, police sought to keep the opposing crowds of demonstrators separate, moving them distinct areas, Tisch said.
Police reportedly later helped clear a path for Lang to exit the area.
Six people total were arrested at the event. Beyond the individuals tied to the devices and the pepper spray incident, the other three were arrested for offenses including disorderly conduct and blocking traffic, Tisch said.
There is no indication Saturday’s suspicious devices incident was tied to the Iran war, the police leader added.
Earlier this month, Lang, a January 6 rioter, was charged with making threatening statements about a police officer who was present at a fifth-anniversary event commemorating the attack on the Capitol. He was also arrested last month for vandalizing an ice sculpture at the Minnesota State Capitol protesting President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.
In January, Lang was in Minneapolis, where he led a “crusader march” demonizing Muslims and threatened to burn a Quran, as right-wing elements descended on the city claiming the area’s sizable Somali population was tied to government fraud.
When Lang appeared for the January 17 demonstration, which took place between Minneapolis City Hall and the local federal courthouse, he praised the Trump administration’s federal immigration operations and was vastly overwhelmed by counter-protesters who chased him and targeted him with water balloons in sub-freezing temperatures.
Lang’s appearance in the city came as Minneapolis was already on edge, after an immigration officer fatally shot protester Renee Good earlier that month and federal agents were conducting military-style immigration operations across the region.
President Trump pardoned Lang, who was charged with beating police officers with a baseball bat on January 6, along with most others who faced prosecution for their role in the attack.
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