A man set himself on fire outside Manhattan Criminal Court Friday afternoon as former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial was underway, law enforcement sources told The Post.
The shocking incident unfolded in a barricaded park just across the street from the 100 Centre Street courthouse around 1:30 p.m. — just as the jury was finalized in the historic case.
Disturbing footage showed him in a seated position while completely engulfed in flames — then his blackened body twitching on the ground as people rushed over with fire extinguishers.
“Somebody set themselves on fire,” one cop was overheard saying at the scene about 20 minutes later, as ashes smoldered on the ground in the aftermath.
The man walked into the park alone, took off his jacket and poured gas over his head before lighting himself up, according to sources.
Just seconds before setting himself on fire, he tossed a stack of colorful pamphlets into the air, the sources added.
Flyers left at the scene linked to a Substack page with the heading: “I have set myself on fire outside the Trump Trial.”
In a rambling, incoherent 2,648-word manifesto, a man who identified himself as an investigative researcher, Max Azzarello, said he’d self-immolated as an “extreme act of protest” over a “totalitarian con” and impending “apocalyptic fascist world coup.”
“I heard this clattering and it was these papers that he had flung up and they clattered to the ground,” a witness, only identified as Dave, told The Post.
“Then he pulled out a can and he poured it over himself. At that point, I thought ‘oh this could be awful’.”
“And after pouring himself with obviously something flammable he took out, I think, a lighter then he lit himself on fire,” he added. “It happened fast. He was up in flames and seemed determined.”
It wasn’t immediately clear what device or means he used to start the blaze.
The man was rushed by first responders to a hospital.
His condition wasn’t immediately clear.
In the aftermath, cops could be seen scurrying around collecting the discarded flyers.
This is a developing story, please continue to check back for updates.
