Two people were arrested after the device was launched, when far-right protesters clashed with counter-protesters.
Posted on March 8, 2026
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has said an “improvised explosive device” was thrown during a protest outside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home, and two men were detained.
Sunday’s statement came a day after the incident outside the mayor’s residence, Gracie Mansion, where far-right anti-Muslim protesters, led by activist Jake Lang, clashed with counterprotesters.
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NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said a preliminary analysis found that the object thrown by a man at the protest “was not a hoax device or a smoke bomb.”
“It is, in fact, an improvised explosive device that could have caused serious injury or death,” he said, adding that further analysis will be conducted on the device, as well as a second device abandoned near the site.
Tisch said two men, identified as Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, were arrested at the scene. The FBI has also joined the investigation.
Police had previously said Balat was among a group of counterprotesters when he threw the smoking device at a barrier near police. It didn’t explode.
According to police, the device contained nuts, bolts and screws, as well as a so-called “hobby fuse.”
Balat dropped a second device on the street as he fled, police said.
‘Never acceptable’
In a statement Sunday, Mamdani condemned Lang’s protest but said the subsequent violence was “even more disturbing.”
“Violence at a protest is never acceptable,” he said.
“Attempting to use an explosive device and injure others is not only criminal, it is reprehensible and the antithesis of who we are.”
Lang, a far-right activist who was arrested for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and pardoned by President Donald Trump last year, called for Saturday’s protest in opposition to what he described as the “Islamification” of New York City.
Mamdani is the first Muslim mayor of the city, which is estimated to be home to up to 1 million Muslims.
In his statement, the mayor described Lang as a “white supremacist” and added that “such hatred has no place in New York City.”
