Six individuals were arrested during dueling demonstrations outside Gracie Mansion, the mayor's official residence. The protests, which involved over 100 participants, included one group opposing what they termed an 'Islamic Takeover' and a counter-protest aiming to oppose Nazis. Arrests were made for various offenses including throwing 'ignited devices,' pepper spraying, disorderly conduct, and obstructing traffic.
Six people were arrested in dueling demonstrations outside Gracie Mansion on Saturday, according to the NYPD, including two people who were arrested for throwing "ignited devices" into the crowd.The demonstrations started around 11 a.
m. on Saturday morning, March 7, outside Gracie Mansion, the mayor's official residence. More than 100 people gathered for dueling protests, police said.SUGGESTED: 14-year-old boy fatally shot in Sunset Park; no arrests reported, police sayThe initial protest, according to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, was called "Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City." The group of about 20 people, according to Tisch, was "associated with far right provocateur Jake Lang."Lang is the same person who went viral after he was arrested for destroying an anti-ICE ice sculpture in Minneapolis.More than 120 people also gathered for a counter-protest called "Run the Nazis out of New York City."Police said that tensions quickly escalated between the two sides, and officers had to separate the two protests. Shortly after 12:30 p.m., police said a counterprotester, identified as 18-year-old Emir Balat, lit and threw a device into the protest crowd, which hit a barrier and put itself out. Balat then ran, Tisch said, and got another similar device from another man, identified as 19-year-old Ibrahim Nikk, lit it, and ran toward the protest again. The counterprotester allegedly dropped the device, and officers arrested both Balat and Nikk.Four other people were arrested, the NYPD announced, including one protester from the original group accused of pepper spraying counterprotesters, and three others accused of disorderly conduct and obstructing traffic. Police did not identify the other people arrested.In response to the anti-Islamic protest outside the mayor's residence, Zohran Mamdani's team called the event "despicable and Islamaphobic.""The ‘Crusade Against Islamification’ gathering held outside Gracie Mansion today by Jake Lang, a vile white supremacist, was despicable and Islamaphobic," Press Secretary Joe Calvello said in a statement to FOX 5 NY. "Thankfully, the Mayor and the First Lady are both safe, though the events are a stark reminder of the threats they both face regularly."Calvello added that Mamdani has spoken with Tisch, and that the NYPD is investigating both the protest and the counterprotest, and the devices that were found.It was not clear whether Mayor Zohran Mamdani or his family were at Gracie Mansion during the protests.The bomb squad was called out to the scene to investigate the two devices. Police said the devices, slightly smaller than a football, were jars wrapped in black tape filled with nuts, bolts, screws and a fuse, but officials don't know yet whether they were functional.The bomb squad has taken the devices for further testing.
Protest Arrests Gracie Mansion New York City Demonstration
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