NEW YORK — The New York Police Department confirmed on Sunday that a suspect deployed an improvised explosive device against an anti-Muslim protest the previous day.
The device failed to detonate and there were no injuries.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement that the NYPD bomb squad determined that an incendiary device deployed at the protest was “not a hoax device or a smoke bomb,” but “an improvised explosive device that could have caused serious injury or death.”
A second incendiary device deployed at the protest is being investigated, Tisch said.
She named the two suspects arrested at the scene as Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi.
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The NYPD is investigating alongside the federal US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the FBI, Tisch said.
The NYPD also said on Sunday that officers had evacuated some buildings in the area of the protest due to a “suspicious device in a vehicle.”
On Saturday afternoon, a group of around 20 anti-Muslim protesters gathered near Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s residence. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is Muslim.
The protest, called “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City,” was led by the far-right provocateur Jake Lang, Tisch said at a Saturday briefing.
Around 125 counter-protesters gathered nearby for a demonstration called “Run the Nazis out of New York City.”
Far-right influencer Jake Lang holds a goat on a leash during a protest organized by Lang against alleged ‘Islamification’ in front of Gracie Mansion, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s official residence, in New York, March 7, 2026. (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)
Tensions escalated between the two groups, and one of the anti-Muslim protesters used pepper spray against one of the counter-protesters and was arrested, Tisch said.
Shortly after, a suspect threw an “ignited device” toward the anti-Muslim protesters that gave off flames and smoke as it hurtled through the air, Tisch said.
The device struck a barrier and went out, a few feet from police.
The assailant fled on foot, obtained a second incendiary device from another suspect, lit the device, started running and dropped the device, Tisch said.
Video showed one of the suspects shouting “Allahu akbar” while being arrested.
WATCH: Suspect seen lighting Home made smoke bomb after Molotov cocktail thrown at Anti-Muslim protest as suspect shouts Allahu Akbar while getting arrested #nyc Gracie Mansion
Videos by @edquinnphoto, @ScooterCasterNY and @yyeeaahhhboiii2 Desk@freedomnews.tv to license pic.twitter.com/4ue4emavS1
— Oliya Scootercaster ???? (@ScooterCasterNY) March 7, 2026
Video also showed the counter-protesters chasing a man down a street and beating him.
NYC: “Zionist!” crowds chase and shout at a man as he gets kicked on the ground outside Gracie Mansion during anti Islam protest pic.twitter.com/rwN9HK6i4K
— Oliya Scootercaster ???? (@ScooterCasterNY) March 7, 2026
Tisch described the devices as jars, a “bit smaller than a football,” wrapped in black tape, filled with nuts and bolts, and with a fuse.
Six people were arrested in total at the protest and counter-demonstration. There did not appear to be any link to the war in Iran, Tisch said.
Mamdani condemned both the white supremacist rally and the use of the explosive device.
“Hate has no place in New York City. It is an affront to our city’s values and the unity that defines who we are. What followed was even more disturbing. Violence at a protest is never acceptable,” Mamdani said.
Mamdani’s predecessor as mayor, Eric Adams, connected the incident to support for attacks against Israel and protest slogans such as “globalize the intifada,” a phrase Mamdani had defended during his campaign, then later said he would “discourage” after coming under massive pressure.
“Words have now escalated into violence on the streets of New York City,” Adams said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the Chabad Hasidic movement who lives in the neighborhood, Motti Seligson, said one of the counter-protesters had followed and harassed his family on the street because they were Jewish.
Polls have shown that younger and further left Americans are increasingly supportive of political violence.
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