Mamdani refuses to condemn radical Islam after ISIS-inspired bomb attack as disturbing new details emerge
Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday repeatedly declined to describe the two men charged with bringing improvised explosive devices near Gracie Mansion during an anti-Muslim protest as ISIS-supporting radical Islamists.
“They are suspected of coming here to commit an act of terrorism,” Mamdani said during a press conference outside Gracie Mansion, alongside NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
“There’s video of these two individuals throwing two devices toward the protest. The police department has determined these were improvised explosive devices made to injure, maim, or worse,” he added. “Let me be clear: Anyone who comes to New York City to bring violence to our streets will be held accountable under the law.”
On Sunday, Mamdani had issued a statement condemning the organizer of the right-wing anti-Muslim rally, but he did not specifically address the alleged bomb throwers.
“Yesterday, white supremacist Jake Lang organized a protest outside Gracie Mansion rooted in bigotry and racism. Such hate has no place in New York City. It is an affront to our city’s values and the unity that defines who we are,” the statement said.
“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 and the antithesis of who we are.”
Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, criticized the anti-Muslim demonstrators but did not mention that the counter-protesters were allegedly radicalized by ISIS content online.
Following the unsealing of the criminal complaint Monday, Mamdani again stopped short of condemning radical Islam.
“Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi have been charged with committing a heinous act of terrorism and proclaiming their allegiance to ISIS,” he said in a statement. “They should be held fully accountable for their actions.”
Kayumi, 19, and Balat, 18, both from Pennsylvania, were arrested Saturday after allegedly tossing an IED near the protesters.
The federal government unsealed a five-count criminal complaint in the Southern District of New York Monday afternoon. Investigators said Balat told detectives he hoped the casualty count would exceed that of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
Authorities initially thought the devices were homemade smoke grenades, but they were later determined to be highly volatile explosives that failed to detonate. “These were not hoax devices, nor smoke devices,” Tisch said. “It is, in fact, an improvised explosive device that could have caused serious injury or death.”
The two men allegedly constructed the bomb using triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, a volatile explosive sometimes used by international terrorists. A third device, found in a black 2010 Honda parked on East End Avenue, was removed safely by a robot and later tested negative for explosive material.
The suspects had traveled to Manhattan to counterprotest Lang, who held an anti-Muslim rally outside Gracie Mansion titled “Stop the Islamification of NYC.”
“This was a vile protest rooted in white supremacy,” Mamdani said at Monday’s press conference. “I’m the first Muslim mayor of our city. Anti-Muslim bigotry is nothing new to me, nor to the roughly 1 million Muslim New Yorkers.” He added, “While I found this protest appalling, I will not waver in my belief that it should be allowed to happen.”
Mamdani and his wife were not at home during Saturday’s events, visiting the New York City Sign Museum in Brooklyn instead.
The FBI has taken over the investigation, which is being treated as “ISIS-inspired terrorism.” Agents searched the suspects’ homes in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
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