A man attempted to self-immolate, lighting
his left arm on fire outside the White House on Saturday during an
anti-Israel protest.
The man, who identified himself as a
journalist, was seen in video taken at the scene holding his arm in the
air, engulfed in flames. Several members of the crowd tossed water on
his arm and tried to put the flames out with towels, as the man
screamed.
The sleeve of his shirt appeared to be burned off, with burn marks visible on his left arm in the video.
Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police
Department officers restrained the man, and rescue services transported
him to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries, according to
police.
The man reportedly screamed at one point
that “we spread the misinformation,” and later that “I’m a journalist,
and I said it was OK.”
The man’s identity has not yet been
confirmed publicly. An Arizona man with a similar photo has social media
pages loaded with content on the Israel-Hamas war and posted that he
would be at the White House protest on Saturday to give a speech. That
individual also identifies as a journalist.
The incident took place at about 5:45 p.m.
along the 800 block of 16th Street, close to the White House, where
activists—some supporting Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre—gathered in protest
ahead of the one-year anniversary of the attack.
The man on Saturday became the third known
to have lit himself on fire, purportedly in protest of Israel’s
military operations in Gaza.
Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old U.S. Air
Force serviceman, died of his wounds following his actions outside the
Israeli embassy in Washington in late February.
Aaron Bushnell died after setting himself on fire outside the
Israeli embassy in Washingtonon February 25, 2024
Matt Nelson died on September 14, 2024 after lighting himself
on fire across the street from the Israeli consulate in Boston.
Last month, a man identified in news
reports as 45-year-old Matt Nelson died four days after lighting himself
on fire across the street from the Israeli consulate in Boston.
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