Man Sets Self on Fire Outside Breivik Trial

Police have yet to verify a connection between the act and the trial
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted May 15, 2012 9:08 AM CDT
Updated May 15, 2012 10:35 AM CDT
Man Sets Self on Fire Outside Breivik Trial
A man who set fire to himself outside the courthouse in Oslo Tuesday, May 15, 2012, where the trial of Anders Behring Breivik is taking place, is taken into an ambulance.   (AP Photo/Scanpix, Berit Roald)

The drama continues at the Anders Behring Breivik trial, though today the biggest scene took place outside the courthouse, where a man set himself on fire. Police do not believe the man has any connection with the trial. Police say he poured a flammable liquid onto himself and and set himself aflame outside the building's entrance. One video shows him running toward the security checkpoint with flames shooting up from his hat, reports the AP, yelling what sounded like "shoot me, it hurts." He apparently then turned to the right and collapsed.

Police who happened to be on the scene helped douse the fire, but "he is seriously injured. He has wounds on his chest and stomach," says a police rep. A picture is starting to form of the events that transpired before the self-immolation, with the AP reporting that the man had earlier visited the office of a Norwegian lawyer to drop off an envelope filled with "confused" notes. Says the lawyer, "He was disturbed. Very much. He has nothing to do with the July 22 events." The Sun reports that the man was denied entrance to the trial before crossing the street and emptying the liquid onto himself. (More self-immolation stories.)

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