NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A counterprotester demonstrating against a \u201cStop the Islamic Takeover of New York City\u201d event Saturday lit and threw a device containing nuts, bolts and screws at the protesting crowd after someone from that group used pepper spray on the counterprotest, police said. <\/p>\n
Police are investigating the incident that started late Saturday morning when someone from the anti-Islam protest associated with conservative influencer Jake Lang shot pepper spray into a counterprotesting group near the mayoral residence Gracie Mansion, Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. <\/p>\n
Tensions continued to heighten, she said, when someone in the counterprotest lit and threw a device she described as smaller than a football into the protesting crowd of about 20 people. <\/p>\n
The device struck a barrier and extinguished itself \u201ca few feet from police officers,\u201d she said. The same person then ran, and another person gave a him a second device, which he then dropped. The devices, which Tisch said were smaller than a football, were wrapped in black tape with nuts, bolts, and screws, as well as a hobby fuse that could be lit. She said it was unclear if they were functioning devices or a hoax. <\/p>\n
All three people have been arrested, and an investigation is underway, Tisch said. <\/p>\n
Tisch didn\u2019t report any injuries during a news conference and said she believed Mayor Zohran Mamdani was not in the residence at the time. <\/p>\n
Lang was previously charged with assaulting an officer with a baseball bat, civil disorder and other crimes before receiving clemency as part of President Donald Trump\u2019s sweeping act of clemency<\/a> for Jan. 6 defendants last year. Lang recently announced that he is running for U.S. Senate in Florida.<\/p>\n