Azzarello is now in critical condition at the Weill Cornell burn center, police said.
A colorful pamphlet dropped in the area directs users to a Substack page run by a person who describes themselves as an “investigative researcher who has set himself on fire outside of the Trump trial in Manhattan.”
One of the blog post states: “We are victims of a totalitarian con, and our own government (along with many of their allies) is about to hit us with an apocalyptic fascist world coup.”
Self-immolations have been in the news recently, with the most notable instance being that of pro-Palestine protester Aaron Bushnell.
The shocking incident came at around 1.37 pm after the court adjourned for lunch, with a full jury having been selected earlier in the day.
Video posted on X by Politico journalist Emily Ngo shows a man rushing over with a fire extinguisher to put out the flames as the self-immolator writhes in agony on the ground.
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