A man self-immolated outside of President Trump’s trial at the courthouse at Lower Manhattan on Friday. His manifesto calls it an “extreme act of protest denouncing a planetary multi-trillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.”
While he appears to have deliberately chosen the Trump trial locale for his act, the man’s protest appeared to have little to do with the Trumps and nothing to do with the issues at hand at Mr. Trump’s trial.
Police confirmed Friday afternoon that a man had self-immolated at Collect Pond Park, a small area next to the courthouse. Police confirmed the man’s name is Maxwell Azarello. He was taken away in an ambulance and at this writing was in critical condition.
“Obviously we had a major incident that took place across the street from the courthouse today,” Deputy Commissioner Tarik Sheppard of the NYPD said. “We just spoke to the mayor, Eric Adams, and we spoke to the police commissioner.”
According to police, the man walked into the park and removed pamphlets from a bag and threw them around the park. He then covered himself with a flammable liquid and lit himself on fire.
Members of the public and emergency responders attempted to put him out with coats initially. Emergency responders eventually put out the fire with an extinguisher. The man is at a hospital burn unit in critical condition, according to police.
Police said that the man had arrived at New York earlier this week after traveling from St. Augustine, Florida. Police said that his family did not know that he was at New York.
A man self-identifying as Mr. Azzarello released a manifesto at 1:35 p.m. in a substack post titled, “I have set myself on fire outside the Trump Trial.” The Sun was not able to independently confirm the post was written by Mr. Azzarello.
In the post, the author says, “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.”
The author also claims in the manifesto that the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank was organized by billionaire Peter Thiel and connected to cryptocurrency, which he calls the “first planetary multi-trillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.” He also claims cryptocurrency is responsible for global inflation and will take down “half the stock market” if and when it becomes insolvent.
The author’s manifesto then winds through theories concerning Covid, the Clinton family, the late sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein, the Trump family, Harvard University, and “The Simpsons.”
