Protester attempts self-immolation near White House (+VIDEO)
A man attempted to self-immolate Saturday during a pro-Palestine protest near the White House, according to footage on social media.
The man, who claimed to be a journalist, was seen in the video with burns to his left arm as those around him poured water on it. He raised his left arm high with flames engulfing it.
The man is heard screaming that he is a journalist.
“We spread the misinformation,” he screams at one point. “I’m a journalist and I said it was okay.”
Police detained the man and established a perimeter around the area.
One report said he was transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Anadolu Agency.
Witnesses said the man was a CBS-affiliated journalist and he was blaming the network for “spreading misinformation.”
Four people so far have staged self-immolations in the US to protest Washington’s support of the war in the Gaza Strip.
A protester with a Palestinian flag self-immolated outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta last December. The person was critically injured.
Aaron Bushnell, 25, died in a hospital after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli regime’s embassy in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 24 in what he said was an act of protest against Israel’s war in Gaza.
On Sept. 11, a man, identified as Matt Nelson, set himself on fire near the Israeli consulate in Boston and died days after what he called an “extreme act of protest.”
The demonstration near the White House marked the one-year mark of the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 40,000 victims.
