Three Pa. men arrested, FBI searches Bucks County home, after violent clash at far-right protest in New York

Three Pennsylvania men, including a Bucks County teen accused of throwing a homemade bomb toward a crowd, were among six people arrested for taking part in a violent clash involving far-right protesters outside Gracie Mansion in Manhattan over the weekend, New York City police said Sunday.

Emir Balat, 18, of Langhorne, is accused of throwing an improvised explosive device and another smoking projectile toward a group of people who gathered Saturday afternoon for a demonstration planned by far-right provocateur Jake Lang called “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City,” said New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, of Newtown, is accused of helping Balat, she said.

It was not immediately clear what charges the men would face.

The FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies were searching a home in Langhorne Sunday evening in connection with the incident, Middletown Township police said in a Facebook post.

Around 11 a.m. Saturday, Lang and about 20 followers gathered outside Gracie Mansion — where Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is Muslim, lives in the Upper East Side — wearing American flags and “Freedom” shirts, according to the New York Times.

About 120 others gathered for a counterprotest dubbed “Run the Nazis out of New York City,” Tisch said. The groups were shouting at each other, and as tension swelled, someone in Lang’s group sprayed counterprotesters with Mace, Tisch said.

Police later identified Ian McGinnis, of Philadelphia, as the person who pepper-sprayed the group, Tisch said. He was taken into custody at the scene, and charged with reckless endangerment, assault, and unlawful possession of noxious matter, police said Sunday.

McGinnis is a founder of the conservative media website and podcast Surge Philly. Photos and videos of Saturday’s event shared online appear to show McGinnis and co-host Frank Scales — who built the Surge Philly platform by filming himself interviewing and arguing with protesters — engaging with counterprotesters.

One photo captured by Getty Images appears to show McGinnis spraying Mace toward a group, with Scales at his side. Videos posted on social media appeared to show protesters yelling “Get out!” and running at Scales and McGinnis when he pepper-sprayed them.

Scales did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday. McGinnis could not be reached.

As the melee swelled following the release of pepper spray, a counterprotester later identified as Balat threw a fiery device toward Lang’s group, sending people running for cover, Tisch said.

Balat, she said, then ran down the block and got a second device from Kayumi. Balat lit that device, but dropped it as he ran toward East 87th Street, the commissioner said.

Both men were taken into custody Saturday at the scene. The charges against them had not been determined and are expected to be filed Monday afternoon.

Officials in Bucks County said Monday that one of the men was a Neshaminy High School student. They did not identify the student.

Jason Bowman, the Neshaminy School District superintendent, said in a statement that the student is 18-years-old and a resident of Middletown township.

There is no active threat to the school or its students, he said.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, whose district includes Bucks County, said in a statement that he had been in contact with Bowman, and that a Neshaminy school resource officer would coordinate with FBI investigators moving forward.

Fitzpatrick said the two men had targeted protesters with explosive devices containing materials used in the “deadliest terrorist attacks in modern history.”

“That is not protest,” Fitzpatrick said. “That is not expression. It is criminal violence. It is terrorism.”

No explosions or injuries from the devices were reported. Tisch, the New York City police commissioner, said the first device “struck a barrier and extinguished itself a few feet from police officers.”

The bomb squad examined the devices, just smaller than a football, and found they consisted of a jar wrapped in black tape, with nuts, bolts, screws, and a hobby fuse that could be lit, Tisch said. On Sunday, Tisch said a preliminary analysis of a device showed it was not a hoax, but an “improvised explosive device that could have caused serious injury or death.”

The mayor and his wife were not home at the mansion at the time of the protest. Mamdani, in a social media post Sunday, called Lang a white supremacist whose protest was “rooted in bigotry and racism,” but said that “what followed was even more disturbing.”

“The attempt to use an explosive device and hurt others is not only criminal, it is reprehensible and the antithesis of who we are,” he said.

As police continued to assess the area around the mansion on Sunday, the department said officers “identified a suspicious device in a vehicle on East End Avenue between 81st Street and 82nd Street,” and temporarily closed the surrounding area as the bomb squad removed the device.