The NYPD is investigating a report of a suspicious device near Gracie Mansion in the area where two men over the weekend were arrested in connection with bringing homemade bombs to a protest.
Officers early Tuesday afternoon cleared the public from the vicinity of nearby Carl Schurz Park on East End Avenue between East 85th and East 87th streets, and East 86th Street between York and East End. Gracie Mansion, at East End and 88th Street, is the official residence of the New York City mayor.
An NYPD spokesman said that the area has been cleared to investigate a potentially suspicious device.
On Monday, a counterprotester who was accused of hurling a homemade bomb during a clash with anti-Islam protesters near Gracie Mansion over the weekend and an accomplice were federally charged with terrorism, in an attack that the men said was ISIS-inspired. The men were involved with planting a second device and a third device was found in a car connected to them, prosecutors said.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.