(Bloomberg) — Authorities arrested six people connected to unrest during an anti-Muslim protest outside the residence of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani that prompted a bomb-squad response and a terrorism investigation.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said two of the individuals arrested were accused of handling and igniting improvised explosives, which appeared to be jars wrapped in black tape with nuts, bolts and screws attached and fitted with hobby fuses. Mamdani is New York’s first Muslim mayor.
The incident began around 11 am near East End Avenue and East 87th Street, where a demonstration organized by conservative influencer Jake Lang drew about 20 participants. A nearby counter-protest against Lang’s group attracted roughly 125 people at its peak, Tisch said.
Shortly before noon, tensions escalated when a protester affiliated with Lang’s group used pepper spray against the counter-protesters and was later arrested, according to police.
Then an 18-year-old man lit and threw an ignited device toward the protest area, landing in a crosswalk near officers. Witnesses reported flames and smoke before the object struck a barrier and extinguished itself a few feet from police, Tisch said. The man then allegedly obtained a second device from a 19-year-old, lit it and dropped it along East End Avenue before both were taken into custody.
Tisch said she didn’t believe Mamdani or the first lady, Rama Duwaji, were at home at the time. Bomb squad technicians transported the items in a containment vessel for further testing to determine whether they were functional improvised explosive devices or hoaxes.
Joe Calvello, a spokesperson for Mamdani, called the gathering “despicable and Islamophobic” and described Lang as “a vile white supremacist.” He said Mandani spoke with Tisch about the investigation into the incident, which is being conducted by the New York City Police Department and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
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