Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his wife Rama Duwaji were safe when the incident unfolded, a spokesperson said.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his wife Rama Duwaji were safe when the incident unfolded, a spokesperson said.NEW YORK CITY -- Police arrested six people after a smoke-generating suspicious devices was thrown by a counterprotester during a far-right, anti-Muslim protest outside the New York City mayor's residence Saturday, authorities said.
Joe Calvello, a spokesman for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, said the city's first Muslim mayor, and his wife, Rama Duwaji, were safe when the incident unfolded outside Gracie Mansion. It was not immediately clear if they were inside the mansion. About 20 organizers "associated with far-right provocateur Jake Lang" took part in the anti-Muslim protest while 120 counterprotesters gathered outside the mansion around noon, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters. Tensions flared and one of the members of the anti-Muslim group allegedly used pepper spray on a counterprotester and was arrested, Tisch said. Shortly after that, an 18-year-old counter protester was seen lighting and throwing a device, Tisch said. "Witnesses reported seeing flames and smoke as it traveled through the air before it struck a barrier and extinguished itself a few feet from police officers," she told reporters. The suspect allegedly got another device from a 19-year-old suspect, lit it and ran with it before he dropped it, Tisch said. Officers arrested both suspects, according to the commissioner. The commissioner said the two suspicious devices that appeared to be "a jar wrapped in black tape, with nuts, bolts and screws, along with a hobby fuse that could be lit." The NYPD bomb squad was investigating if the device was a smoke bomb, after some smoke started coming out of the device before the crowd was moved back, sources told ABC News. "We do not yet know whether the devices were functional, improvised explosive devices or hoax devices, because we don't yet know if there was energetic material contained in them," the commissioner said.Calvello, the mayor's spokesman, called Lang a "vile white supremacist" and condemned the protest as "despicable and Islamophobic." "Thankfully, the Mayor and the First Lady are both safe, though the events are a stark reminder of the threats they both face regularly," he said in a statement.Cavello said the mayor was in contact with the police commissioner and receiving information on the protest, counterprotest and the suspicious devices. In addition to the arrest of the suspects who allegedly used the devices and the suspect who used the pepper spray, three others were arrested for disorderly conduct and blocking traffic, Tisch said. The commissioner commended the actions of officers on the scene who rushed to action when they saw the smoking devices. "I always speak about the police running toward the danger when everyone else runs away. Let me be clear, that happened today," Tisch said.
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