A protester attempted self-immolation outside the White House during an anti-Israel protest Saturday night, disrupting a video program.
An unidentified man was seen screaming in pain as his left arm was set on fire in the middle of the road as shocked police officers and bystanders rushed to help. According to one clip.
He holds his left arm high in the air as he is engulfed in flames as the crowd pours water on his arm and puts out the flames with towels.
Another clip shows a man shouting that he is a journalist while being subdued by DC Metropolitan Police Department officers. Posted by Free Beacon reporter Jessica Costescu What it looked like after the fire went out.
The left sleeve of his burnt shirt is soaked with liquid, and his bare arm shows superficial pink burns.
According to the video, a passerby pours a bottle of water onto the wound.
“We spread misinformation,” he yells at one point in the video as a crowd gathers around him.
“I'm a journalist and I said it's okay,” he exclaimed as the woman hugged him.
Video shows a white-shirted officer burst onto the scene, yelling at onlookers to “back off” and pushing some people out of the way.
The man self-immolated in the 800 block of 16th Street outside the White House around 5:45 p.m., according to the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.
D.C. Fire and EMS responded and the man was taken to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
“The District of Columbia has a long and proud history of peaceful First Amendment activism, and the Metropolitan Police Department handles hundreds of protests, demonstrations, and other events each year,” the department said. .
“We will continue to support those who choose to protest peacefully and safely, and we will continue to hold accountable those who commit criminal acts while in our city.”
Demonstrators on Saturday night ahead of the first anniversary of Oct. 7, when Hamas launched an attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people and sparked an ongoing war in the region. They gathered around the White House in Washington, DC.
Protesters are demanding a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, where an estimated 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces over the past year.
