Conservative influencer Jake Lang has spoken out after chaos unfolded outside of Gracie Mansion on Saturday, March 7. The incident took place outside of Zohram Mamdani’s official residence during an anti-Islam demonstration led by Lang, as well as a counterprotest, according to NBC News.
Two people are in custody after a pair of “suspicious devices” were ignited at the protest.
“I just survived an assassination attempt by these two Muslim men; The homemade bomb they threw landed 3 feet in front of me. The detonator failed to ignite, because God is on the throne of my life. We will never surrender to Islam,” Lang wrote on X, sharing a video of the chaos.
No injuries were reported, an NYPD spokesperson said.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that she believes Mamdani and his wife Rama Duwaji were not home at the time. Mamdani spokesperson Joe Calvello confirmed that the couple was safe.
What happened outside of Gracie Mansion?
A bomb squad examined the devices, which were described as being smaller than a football. They looked like a jar wrapped in black tape with nuts, bolts, screws and a hobby fuse, Tisch said.
“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,” Tisch said.
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Both the devices were transported for further testing and analysis.
Tisch said that the protest, led by Lang, drew 20 participants. It was titled ‘Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City, Stop New York City Public Muslim Prayer’. On the other hand, the counterprotest, ‘Run the Nazis out of New York City, Stand Against Hate,’ drew 125 demonstrators at its peak.
The protests began around 11 am. Police separated both groups into designated areas. However, shortly before noon, tensions escalated.
A protester from the Lang group fired pepper spray at counterprotesters at 12:15 pm, and was arrested, according to Tisch. She added that shortly after 12:30 pm, an 18-year-old counterprotester “lit and threw an ignited device toward the protest area.”
The device landed in the crosswalk, following which witnesses “reported seeing flames and smoke as it traveled through the air,” she added The device struck a barrier and extinguished itself a few feet from cops.
The counterprotester then retrieved another device from a 19-year-old man, police said, before lighting it and running with it. The individual then dropped it on the west side of East End Avenue between East 86th and East 87th streets, Tisch said.
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Both the people were taken into custody, but no charges had been filed as of Saturday evening, according to the NYPD. The incident was captured on an NYPD surveillance camera, according to Tisch.
Overall, as many as six people were arrested as a result of the protest, including the two men “responsible for handling and deploying the devices,” the person who deployed pepper spray, as well as three individuals related to disorderly conduct and obstructing traffic, Tisch said.