The incident occurred on March 7 as an anti-Islam protester pepper-sprayed counterprotesters, two of whom responded with explosive devices, police say.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) said on March 8 that an improvised explosive device (IED) was ignited and thrown by counterprotesters outside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s residence over the weekend.
The incident occurred on March 7 as around 20 anti-Islam protesters clashed with a few counterprotesters near Gracie Mansion, where Mamdani and his wife resided, said police.
There were roughly 125 counterprotesters “at its peak,” according to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Police officers had attempted to keep the two protests separate by designating two different areas, she said during a press conference.
Tisch said that tensions were triggered when one protester from the anti-Islam group—organized by pardoned Jan. 6, 2021, rioter Jake Lang, dubbed the “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City” protest—used pepper spray against counterprotesters. The counterprotesters had gathered under the cause “Run The Nazis Out of New York City,” and “Stand Against Hate.”
One of the counterprotesters, identified as Emir Balat, 18, then “lit and threw” an ignited device toward the protest area, which landed in a crosswalk on East End Avenue. All of this was caught on the NYPD’s Argus surveillance camera network. Tisch said witnesses also reported seeing flames and smoke before it hit a barrier and extinguished itself “a few feet from police officers.”
Balat then allegedly fled the first scene before he got a second device from a man tentatively identified as Ibrahim Nick, 19, which he then lit before being apprehended by police.
Balat and Nick, along with four other individuals, have been arrested following the attacks, including the individual who attacked counterprotesters with pepper spray.
No injuries were reported. Tisch said Mamdani and his wife were not believed to be at home during the incident.
During their investigation, police discovered the explosive devices were jars wrapped in black tape and filled with nuts, bolts, and screws, along with a hobby fuse, according to Tisch.
In a latest update, Tisch said a preliminary bomb squad analysis determined that the first IED examined was not a hoax or smoke bomb but an explosive capable of causing serious injury or death.
“Further analysis will be conducted, including on a second device,” Tisch said in a statement.
The NYPD is working with the FBI on the investigation, she added.
