Repeated Bomb Threats Disrupt Flushing Library as Officials Call for Accountability

Back-to-back bomb threats have disrupted operations at the Flushing branch of Queens Public Library, forcing evacuations and drawing calls from local officials for authorities to identify those responsible.

Queens Public Library said the threats began on Sept. 19. By Oct. 8, the branch had received eight bomb threats, each prompting an evacuation and police response. Searches found no explosives, and authorities determined the threats were not credible. On Oct. 1, an incident forced patrons and staff from the building as NYPD officers cordoned off the entrance and searched the facility for threats.

Councilwoman Sandra Ung, whose district includes Flushing, condemned the repeated disruptions. “These bomb threats against the Flushing Library create unnecessary fear and anxiety in our community, disrupt essential services, and take an enormous toll on the dedicated library staff who come to work every day to serve our residents,” Ung said. “They are unacceptable.”

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She thanked the NYPD and library employees for responding to the incidents and called for whoever is responsible to be held accountable. “We must do everything we can to ensure the safety of library patrons and staff while also holding whoever is responsible accountable,” she added.

Threats reference anti-CCP demonstrations

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Some of the threats have drawn additional concerns because messages described by Chinese dissidents explicitly referenced planned anti-Communist Party demonstrations in Flushing. Jie Lijian, chairman of the China Democracy Party International Alliance, told Vision Times that his organization’s email address had been used without authorization in submissions containing bomb threats to public institutions.

According to Jie, he discovered the impersonation after automated confirmation messages from the Queens Public Library and other institutions arrived in his inbox. One message allegedly claimed explosives and a remote detonator had been placed inside the Flushing Library and threatened to detonate them if members of the China Democracy Party and other anti-CCP groups marched past the building.

Similar Chinese-language messages were reportedly submitted to the website of Tokyo’s Shinjuku Cultural Center between Sept. 18 and 20, according to screenshots and accounts provided by activists. Police have not publicly identified a suspect or motive in the Flushing threats as investigations continue.

A growing intimidation campaign

The Flushing Library sits across Main Street from the Global Service Center for Quitting the Chinese Communist Party, also known as the Tuidang Center, which has itself reported receiving repeated threats. Wang Zhiyuan, the center’s president, has claimed that the pattern and targets point to actors connected to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

That context has raised concern among Chinese dissidents in New York. Ahead of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s September visit to the U.S., Jie and other activists said they had received repeated bomb and death threats, some of which they reported to the FBI and NYPD. A Sept. 20 anti-CCP demonstration in Flushing also ended in a confrontation in which police detained a counter-protester after an alleged assault on one of the participants.

For Ung, however, the immediate concern is the repeated disruption to a public institution central to the neighborhood. “The Flushing Library is far more than a place to borrow books, it is at the center of our civic and cultural life,” she said. “It is where students go after school, seniors participate in wellness programs, families introduce their children to reading, and new Americans access the resources and services they need to build better lives for themselves and their families.”