On Saturday, opposing protest groups gathered outside Gracie Mansion, the New York City mayorâs residence, with NYPD officers separating them into designated areas. NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch said tensions escalated shortly before noon; around 12:15 p.m., a protester associated with organizer Jake Langâs group used pepper spray against counterprotesters. About 20 minutes later, an 18-year-old counterprotester lit and threw an ignited device toward the protest area; it landed on a crosswalk and extinguished after striking a barrier near police officers.
Tisch said the same individual then retrieved a second device from a 19-year-old man, lit it, and dropped it on a street before officers secured the area and took both men into custody. The NYPD Bomb Squad preliminarily assessed the devices as improvised explosive devices, not hoax devices or smoke bombs, and described them as jar-like items wrapped in black tape with bolts, screws, and a hobby fuse. Six people were arrested in total. The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force is assisting; analysis of the second device is ongoing, and officers established a safety perimeter with canine sweeps and manual canvassing.