In Lower Manhattan, a thirty-seven-year-old Floridian man, Max Azzarello, set himself on fire in front of the court where Donald Trump’s criminal trial is taking place. The incident occurred shortly after 1.30pm (7.30pm in Italy) in a park outside the New York courthouse.
Azzarello, described as a conspiracy theorist and an “investigative researcher”, was engulfed in flames and quickly extinguished by dozens of officers who patrol the area. He was then taken away by ambulance.
Before setting himself on fire, Azzarello had posted a sign outside the court indicating his Substack account where he published his speeches. One of them indicated that he was “ready to set himself on fire outside the Trump trial.” In his message, he claimed that this extreme act of protest was meant to draw attention to what he believed was an urgent discovery: that they are victims of a totalitarian swindler and their government is planning an apocalyptic and fascist global coup. He stated that there was proof of this conspiracy and that their lives were based on lies.
Azzarello also provided a link for people to discover the “rotten truth of post-truth America” and warned that they are in a desperate emergency situation that requires action. Despite apologizing to his friends, family, witnesses, and rescue workers for the pain he may have caused them, he claimed that his act was an act of revolution. His message suggested that the government’s intentions were far worse than any pain he could inflict, urging others to take action based on these truths.
