The New York City Police Department detained two people on Saturday in response to a chaotic clash between a group of anti-Muslim demonstrators and counterprotesters near Gracie Mansion.
The anti-Islam protest was led by pardoned Jan. 6, 2021, rioter Jake Lang, who made news in January for his clashes with anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters in Minnesota. Lang’s Saturday anti-Islam protest convened around noon in front of the residence of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the first Muslim mayor of the Big Apple.
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NYPD officers were already on the scene for the “scheduled demonstration” as counterprotestors convened in the area and brawls began, a spokesperson for the NYPD told the Washington Examiner. The officers were then “alerted to two suspicious devices at the location.”
“No injuries or property damage have been reported at this time. Two persons of interest were taken into custody and the investigation remains ongoing,” the NYPD said.
Social media videos of the clash have reported what appeared to be a smoke bomb and a Molotov cocktail thrown from a counterprotester who screamed “Allahu Akbar.”
The NYPD did not specify what the suspicious devices were, and the investigation continues. The Washington Examiner has reached out to Mamdani’s office for comment.
The clash comes less than 24 hours after another clash between demonstrators in Washington Square Park. On Friday night, pro-Iranian regime attendees of a vigil for former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei clashed with counterprotesters in an incident that left three individuals detained.
NYPD told the Washington Examiner that “three individuals were taken into custody and issued criminal court summonses for disorderly conduct” in the Friday evening clash.
Lang was also at the Washington Square Park clash, where he reportedly showed up in a U-Haul van with a live goat and made a series of anti-Muslim remarks.
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The heightened tensions come one week into the war between the United States, Israel, and the Iranian Islamic regime.
The conflict began last Saturday, when the U.S. and Israel launched a joint preemptive attack on Iran and took out Khamenei.
