Portland Protester Accidentally Sets Himself on Fire (+Video)
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Footage has captured the moment a protester set himself on fire with a Molotov cocktail in Portland, Oregon, as unrest has gripped major US cities.
It was filmed in Portland on the west coast where 100 days of Black Lives Matters protests gripped the city.
Uploaded onto Twitter over the weekend, it shows burning bottles crashing against the footpath in Portland with one dropping dangerously close to a protester, Adelaide Now reported.
The man in a red beanie can be seen frantically running away after he emerges from a huge blaze. The person filming can be heard calling him an “... idiot”.
He can be seeing rolling on the ground in an effort to smother the flames as a group of people rush over to help.
“Take your shoes off,” one person shouts, while another says, “Smother it, smother it!”
Riot police can be see going over to help the burning man.
About 30 seconds into the footage, police can be heard on a loudspeaker saying, “This has been declared a riot.” There are further explosions as police ask protesters to disperse.
Police used tear gas and arrested dozens of people as hundreds gathered to demonstrate against racism and police brutality.
At least one person was injured by the fire bombs, police said.
The nightly protests were sparked by the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis in May.
Floyd’s death triggered similar protests nationwide, but it is in Portland – a city of 650,000 that is more than 70 per cent white – where activists have remained on the streets practically every night, demanding racial justice and police accountability.
