Device thrown near New York mayor's residence was improvised explosive, police say

A device thrown during a protest outside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's official residence on Saturday was an improvised explosive capable of causing serious injury or death, the city's police commissioner said Sunday.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the New York City Police Department (NYPD) Bomb Squad had determined the device was neither a "hoax device or a smoke bomb."

A second device was also being analyzed, she added. Two men were arrested at the scene and remain in custody.

Mamdani said the protest was organized by "white supremacist Jake Lang" outside Gracie Mansion, the official mayoral residence, and described it as rooted in "bigotry and racism."

"Such hate has no place in New York City."

"What followed was even more disturbing," he said, referring to the device thrown toward protesters. "Violence at a protest is never acceptable."

He called the use of an explosive device "reprehensible and the antithesis of who we are," while thanking officers for their swift response.

The NYPD is investigating alongside the FBI through the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, said Tisch.