WASHINGTON — An Arizona man was hospitalized after lighting himself on fire during a pro-Palestinian protest in Washington, D.C., according to multiple reports.
According to 12News affiliate WUSA, the protest was taking place on the 800 block of 16th Street Northwest, across the street from the White House when the man tried to light himself on fire.
Metropolitan police told WUSA that officers and other members of the public put the fire out and the man was then taken to the hospital with burns to his arms.
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The protest was taking place just days ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza.
The man was later identified by his former employer, Arizona's Family (KPHO/KTVK) as Samuel Mena Jr. Arizona's Family said in a statement posted on their website that Mena worked at the station as a news photographer and was not on assignment in Washington.
Mena appears to have posted the reasoning for lighting himself on fire in a long essay on a website that bears his name.
Mena's account on X (formerly known as Twitter), has pictures of him standing in front of a Palestinian flag and contains a post that says he was planning to live-stream from outside of the White House on Saturday. The account also links to the website containing essay mentioned above.
Mena is a 2018 graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication according to his LinkedIn and had worked at Arizona's Family for about two years.
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