A thirty-seven-year-old Floridian, 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 in front of the New York courthouse in Lower Manhattan. Azzarello, described as a conspiracy theorist, found himself engulfed in flames and was quickly extinguished by dozens of officers who patrol the area. He was then taken away by ambulance.
Azzarello, who presented himself online as an “investigative researcher”, showed 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.