Two people were held in custody after authorities found suspicious devices outside the Gracie Mansion, the official residence of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Two people were held in custody after authorities found suspicious devices outside the Gracie Mansion, the official residence of New York City Mayor
Zohran Mamdani. Chaos broke out outside the residence of the NYC Mayor Zoharan Mamdani as an anti-Islam demonstration took over the area Saturday morning.
The arrests were confirmed by the
New York Police Department. According to Newsweek, the demonstration was organised by Jake Lang, a conservative influencer pardoned for charges tied to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. The visuals from the scene showed smoke and what appeared to be an unexploded homemade device.
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Mamdani himself is yet to comment on the protests. It is pertient to note that the incident raises urgent concerns about the safety of elected officials and the potential for political demonstrations to escalate into violence.
Why it matters
Last year, Mamdani became New York City’s first Muslim Mayor. Before and after assuming the role, he has been targeted. However, this time the demonstrations were held during
Ramadan — the holy month observed by Muslims worldwide — amplifying the symbolic weight of the threat.
Officers were seen at the scene to get a hold of the situation, which was scheduled to take place near East End Avenue and 88th Street, in the vicinity of the 19th Precinct, when they were alerted to two suspicious devices at approximately 11:40 a.m., the NYPD told Newsweek. No injuries or property damage were reported.
Lang, the organiser of the protest, is a conservative influencer and self-described right-wing provocateur who was pardoned for charges stemming from the January 6, 2021,
attack on the US Capitol. He had promoted the demonstration outside the mayor’s residence and, ahead of the rally, promised to burn a Quran at the site. However, he did not appear to follow through on his proclamation.
It is not immediately clear if Mamdani and NYC First Lady
Rama Duwaji were home at the time of the incident. It is important to note that Lang has held similar demonstrations in recent months. In January, he organised an anti-immigration rally in Minneapolis in the days following the fatal shooting of
Renee Nicole Good, 37, who was killed by a federal immigration officer.
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“On Saturday, March 7, 2026, at approximately 1140 hours, officers were on scene for a scheduled demonstration in the vicinity of East End Avenue and 88th Street, within the confines of the 19 Precinct, when they were alerted to two suspicious devices at the location,” NYPD said in an official statement.
“No injuries or property damage have been reported at this time. Two persons of interest were taken into custody, and the investigation remains ongoing,” the statement further reads. With two persons of interest in custody, the NYPD investigation is ongoing.