NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A device thrown by a counterprotester at an anti-Islam demonstration in New York City on Saturday\u2026<\/p>\n
NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A device thrown by a counterprotester<\/a> at an anti-Islam demonstration in New York City on Saturday was confirmed to be an improvised explosive, according to a preliminary police analysis. <\/p>\n Two people were in custody for their alleged role in the confrontation, which unfolded during a \u201cStop the Islamic Takeover of New York City\u201d event led by the far right activist Jake Lang outside the Manhattan residence of Mayor Zohran Mamdani. <\/p>\n The sparsely attended event drew a far larger group of counterdemonstrators, including one person who tossed a smoking object containing nuts, bolts, screws and a \u201chobby fuse\u201d into the crowd, police said. <\/p>\n In a social media post Sunday, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the department\u2019s bomb squad determined the object wasn\u2019t a hoax device or smoke bomb, but an \u201cimprovised explosive device that could have caused serious injury or death.\u201d<\/p>\n The device extinguished itself steps from police officers, Tisch noted. The same person who threw it then received a second device from another counterprotester, which was dropped and did not appear to ignite, the commissioner said. <\/p>\n Charges against the two counterprotesters were still pending. Tisch said police were working with federal prosecutors and the FBI on the case. <\/p>\n \u201cViolence at a protest is never acceptable,\u201d Mamdani said in a statement Sunday. \u201cThe attempt to use an explosive device and hurt others is not only criminal, it is reprehensible and the antithesis of who we are.\u201d <\/p>\n A person associated with Lang\u2019s protest was also arrested and charged with reckless endangerment, assault and unlawful possession of a noxious matter after allegedly macing counterprotesters, police said.<\/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. He recently announced that he is running for U.S. Senate in Florida.<\/p>\n