A Saturday afternoon protest near Gracie Mansion erupted into terror when a counterprotester hurled an improvised explosive device toward police lines. The NYC Mayor’s home devices investigation has now uncovered three separate IEDs, two teens from Pennsylvania who admitted ISIS inspiration, and a city on edge during Ramadan.
The violence unfolded around noon on March 7, when an anti-Islam demonstration organized by far-right influencer Jake Lang drew roughly 20 participants to the area outside Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s official residence. They were met by a counterprotest nearly six times their size called “Drive the Nazis Out of New York”.
What began as separated demonstrations turned deadly serious when 18-year-old Emir Balat lit a device and threw it toward the protest area. Witnesses reported flames and smoke trailing through the air before the object struck a barrier and extinguished itself just feet from officers.
Balat didn’t stop with one device. After the first throw, he retrieved a second IED from 19-year-old Ibrahim Kayumi, lit it, and began running before dropping it in the street where it emitted smoke but failed to detonate. Both teens, residents of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, were arrested at the scene.
The devices themselves tell a chilling story. NYPD Bomb Squad analysis revealed glass jars slightly smaller than footballs, wrapped in black tape and packed with bolts, screws, and fragmentation materials designed to maximize injury. A hobby fuse completed the package. Preliminary testing confirmed the presence of TATP, triacetone triperoxide, an extraordinarily powerful and unstable homemade explosive favored by ISIS operatives globally.
“This is not a hoax device or a smoke bomb,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch posted on X. “It is, in fact, an improvised explosive device that could have caused serious injury or death”.
The investigation expanded dramatically on Sunday when authorities located a vehicle on East End Avenue, just blocks south of Gracie Mansion, containing a third suspicious device and materials consistent with the first two IEDs. The area was evacuated while bomb squad robots examined the Honda Civic before removing it on a flatbed truck.
Law enforcement sources confirmed both suspects admitted to being inspired by ISIS during their arrest, with some reports indicating they made pro-ISIS statements as officers took them into custody . The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force has joined the NYPD and U.S. Attorney’s Office in what officials now call an “ISIS-inspired terrorism” investigation.
“They are suspected of coming here to commit an act of terrorism,” Mayor Mamdani declared Monday. “There is video of these two individuals throwing two devices towards the protest”.
For Mamdani, New York City’s first Muslim mayor, the attack carried profound personal weight. The protests unfolded during Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting and reflection. He and his wife were not home at the time, they were visiting a Brooklyn museum, but the message was clear.
“Yesterday, white supremacist Jake Lang organized a protest outside Gracie Mansion rooted in bigotry and racism,” Mamdani posted on X. “Such hate has no place in New York City. 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”.
The mayor addressed the broader climate directly. “Muslims in this city for almost as long as we have been in this city have had to deal with those with power and platform dehumanizing us,” he said. “I am not ashamed of my faith. I am not ashamed of being the first Muslim mayor in the history of our city”.
The investigation now stretches from New York to Pennsylvania, where FBI agents executed court-authorized searches at the suspects’ homes Sunday, using megaphones to order occupants outside. Both teens remain in custody, poised for potential federal prosecution.
Commissioner Tisch emphasized that investigators have found no connection to the ongoing military conflict involving the U.S. and Iran. The threat, it appears, was homegrown, two young men who drove from Pennsylvania to New York City with three improvised explosive devices during Ramadan, targeting a protest outside a Muslim mayor’s home.
“We were fortunate that the devices used this weekend did not cause the kind of harm that they were certainly capable of causing,” Tisch said. “But luck is never a strategy. Devices like these have the potential to cause devastating harm”
