A pro-Palestinian protester in the United States self-immolated on Friday (Dec 1) outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta. Addressing a press conference, Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said that the protester, who was not identified yet, was in critical condition. “A Palestinian flag was reported at the location and was part of the protest,” Schierbaum said.
He added that the incident was likely an extreme act of political protest. According to the police, the protester arrived at the office building, which houses the consulate as well as several businesses, and used gasoline.
A security guard who tried to intervene was injured. “Both individuals sustained burns,” Atlanta Fire Chief Roderick Smith told reporters. The guard was burned on his wrist and leg, Smith said.
This incident came as the US has witnessed an uptick in Anti-Semitic, anti-Arab, and Islamophobic threats and violence since the conflict between Israel and Hamas started on Oct 7.
Earlier this week, a man was charged with attempted murder over the shooting of three men of Palestinian descent in Vermont, and a six-year-old Palestinian-American boy was stabbed to death in Illinois in October.
Meanwhile, a pro-Palestinian rally was held outside the Israeli embassy on Friday. Protesters wearing keffiyeh, the traditional black-and-white checkered scarf worn in the Middle East, and waving Palestinian flags demanded the “end of the siege on Gaza.”
Fighting renewed in Gaza since Friday following the expiration of a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas. On Saturday, Hamas said that 240 people were killed in Gaza while the Israeli military said that more than 400 targets were attacked in the war-torn region.
