antiIslam

March 8 (UPI) — The New York Police Department said two people were arrested in connection with a pair of “suspicious devices” ignited during an anti-Islam protest outside Gracie Mansion.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the devices appeared to be jars wrapped in black tape containing nuts, bolts and screws. Each device had a hobby fuse.

“We do not yet know whether the devices were functional improvised explosive devices or hoax devices, because we don’t yet know if there was energetic material contained in them,” NBC News quoted Tisch as telling reporters.

The FBI’s New York field office is also investigating.

“During a rally earlier this afternoon, two suspicious items were recovered from the property of Gracie Mansion,” the office said on social media. “The FBI New York’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and the New York City Police Department quickly responded and are actively investigating this matter.”

The devices, which were taken by the bomb squad for further analysis, were allegedly ignited by counterprotesters at an anti-Islam rally organized by right-wing influencer Jake Lang outside Gracie Mansion, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s official residence.

Lang’s rally, dubbed “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City, Stop New York City Public Muslim Prayer,” attracted about 20 participants Saturday, while the counterprotest, “Run the Nazis out of New York City, Stand Against Hate,” featured up to 125 people.

An 18-year-old man accused of throwing the devices was detained alongside a 19-year-old man who handed one of the devices to the first suspect. Both men are from Pennsylvania. No charges have yet been filed.

Tisch said a protester from Lang’s group was arrested for allegedly discharging pepper spray at counterprotesters and three others were arrested on charges involving disorderly conduct and obstructing traffic.

Lang’s protest was organized amid Ramadan, a Muslim holy month. Mamdani, who was inside Gracie Mansion at the time of the demonstrations, is New York’s first Muslim mayor.

NEW YORK — A counterprotester demonstrating against a “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City” event Saturday lighted and threw a device containing nuts, bolts and screws at the protesting crowd after someone from that group used pepper spray on the counterprotesters, police said.

Police are investigating the incident that started late Saturday morning when someone from the anti-Islam protest associated with far-right activist and pardoned Jan. 6 rioter Jake Lang shot pepper spray into a counterprotesting group near the mayoral residence Gracie Mansion, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

Tensions continued to heighten, she said, when one of the counterprotesters lighted and threw a device she described as smaller than a football into the protesting crowd of about 20 people.

The device struck a barrier and extinguished itself “a few feet from police officers,” she said. The same person then ran, and another person gave a him a second device, which they then dropped. The devices were wrapped in black tape with nuts, bolts and screws, as well as a fuse. She said it was unclear whether the devices were functioning explosives or hoaxes.

Three people were arrested, and an investigation is underway, Tisch said.

Tisch at a news conference didn’t report any injuries and said she believed Mayor Zohran Mamdani was not at Gracie Mansion at the time.

She said about 20 people showed up to Saturday’s protest connected to Lang, and the counterprotest had about 125 people at its peak.

Lang was charged with assaulting a police officer with a baseball bat, civil disorder and other crimes before receiving a pardon as part of President Trump’s sweeping act of clemency for Jan. 6 defendants last year. Lang recently announced that he is running for U.S. Senate in Florida.

Last month, Lang staged an anti-Islam protest in Minneapolis during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown there.