According to ABC News, the incident occurred outside the Gracie Mansion, where about 20 organizers associated with far-right activist Jake Lang were staging an anti-Islam demonstration, and about 120 counter-demonstrators gathered opposite.
What happened in front of the New York mayor's residence?
How many people were detained during the riots?
Who is the mayor of New York?
What items were used during the riots?
According to New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, tensions escalated when one of the demonstrators used pepper spray on a counter-protester and was detained. Moments later, an 18-year-old counter-demonstrator allegedly set fire to and threw two suspicious objects. — Witnesses saw flames and smoke as the device flew through the air, then hit the barrier and went out several meters from the police officers, Tisch said, quoted by ABC News. She added that two suspects were immediately detained.
According to the preliminary findings of the pyrotechnics department, they were jars wrapped in black tape, filled with nuts, bolts and metal elements and equipped with an amateur igniter – reports USA Today. “We don't know yet whether they were functional improvised explosives or dummies,” Tisch emphasized. No one was injured and the investigation continues. A total of six people were detained, including three for disturbing order, media report.
City Hall spokesman Joe Calvello said the mayor and his wife, Rama Duwaji, were safe. “It's a reminder of the threats they face,” he said, calling the protest “disgusting and Islamophobic.”
Zohran Mamdani criticizes Israel's policy
As the New York Times reminds, Zohran Mamdani – the first Muslim mayor of New York – has been sharply criticizing Israel's policy for years and calling the war in the Gaza Strip “genocide.”
After the Donald Trump administration announced joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran, Mamdani wrote on X that it was a “catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression.” — Bombardment of cities. Killing civilians. Opening a new theater of war. Americans don't want this, the mayor emphasized.
Regardless of the criticism of the federal administration, Mamdani met with President Trump at the White House. On the platform, X announced the second meeting, on February 26, which focused, among others, on: on housing construction issues in the New York metropolis.
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