Islamophobic demonstration outside Gracie Mansion leads to 6 arrests

Six people were arrested in connection with violent protests outside Gracie Mansion on the Upper East Side Saturday after a far-right group organized a “Crusade Against Islamification,” and a counter-protest assembled, according to New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. 

In a brief press conference on the Upper East Side on Saturday evening, Tisch said that there were no injuries connected to the incident, during which an anti-Muslim protester pepper sprayed counterprotesters, and two counterprotesters deployed two devices, one of which was found to be explosive. Neither device detonated, but they were filled with nuts, bolts and screws.

On Sunday, Tisch confirmed the NYPD’s bomb squad had determined that at least one of the devices was an “improvised explosive device that could have caused serious injury or death.” Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, the men arrested for using those devices, remained in custody Sunday, Tisch said, and the NYPD was investigating in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is the city’s first Muslim mayor, and has faced Islamophobic and racist attacks during the campaign and in his first months as mayor. Conservative radio host Sid Rosenberg described Mamdani as a “jihadist” and “radical Islam cockroach” in a social media post on Monday. Following widespread condemnation, Rosenberg offered a public apology. 

Saturday’s anti-Muslim protest was organized by right-wing activist and pardoned Jan. 6 protester Jake Lang, who has organized other provocative demonstrations, including a pro-ICE protest in Minneapolis. Lang brought a cooked pig, a hateful reference to Islam’s rules against eating pork. “Having a white nationalist coming to rabblerouse and flare anti-Muslim sentiment in New York during the holiest month of the year for Muslims is more than outlandish,” said Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition. “But also, we’re talking about a white supremacist who’s looking for people to respond to them in this way.”

As the two groups clashed, an individual connected to Lang’s protest used pepper spray against counter-protesters, and was arrested. Balat and Kayumi, the two individuals connected to the counter-protest – called “Run the Nazis out of New York City: Stand against hate” – were arrested for handling and deploying what appeared to be improvised explosive devices, including one that was thrown at the protest group, and another that was dropped on the ground. Little has been publicly reported so far about Balat and Kayumi and their motivations, though The New York Times reported they are from Pennsylvania. Three additional individuals were arrested for disorderly conduct. Tisch said Saturday there was no evidence the clash was related to “the ongoing hostilities in Iran.”

In a statement Sunday, Mamdani thanked the NYPD and called Lang a “white supremacist” who “organized a protest outside Gracie Mansion rooted in bigotry and racism.” “Such hate has no place in New York City. It is an affront to our city’s values and the unity that defines who we are,” Mamdani said. “What followed was even more disturbing. Violence at a protest is never acceptable. The attempt to use an explosive device and hurt others is not only criminal, it is reprehensible and the antithesis of who we are.”

Mamdani and wife Rama Duwaji were not at Gracie Mansion at the time of the protests, according to a source familiar. Mamdani had no publicly scheduled events on Saturday.

“New York respects the right to peaceful protest, but we have zero tolerance for hate or violence,” Gov. Kathy Hochul added in a statement on X Saturday evening.