An Iranian man, possibly scheduled for deportation, set himself on fire outside Sydney, Australia’s Department of Immigration.
The 37-year-old man sat outside the building and poured gasoline on himself while shouting, “I want to stay!”
Police were summoned and spent about 10 minutes trying to calm the man. Despite their best efforts, they could not get the man to surrender.
After he ignited himself emergency first responders with fire extinguishers were on him in seconds. They put out the fire, pulled off his smoldering clothes, and loaded him into a waiting ambulance.
The man is in the hospital receiving treatment for burns to his thighs.
Detective Superintendent David Donohue told reporters he could not confirm whether an impending deportation was the trigger for the incident.
“I’m not at liberty to discuss what his issues were, but he was protesting at the immigration department this afternoon and he’s a person who suffers mental illness,” the detective said.
Maintenance worker Claude Evans saw the whole incident. “He was yelling and was completely crazy. Police did everything they could,” Evans told The West Australian.com.
“He set himself alight and then he was very calm. He was on fire from his lower waist up, but the police tackled him and put him out within seconds. They had been trying to talk him down for ages so I think they did as much as anyone could in that situation,” said Evans.
Detective Superintendent Donohue said the man “would have killed himself.”
“The quick actions of police at the time were able to douse him with a fire extinguisher and put him out very quickly and as a result he suffered minor injuries. We’re more concerned about his mental health status,” he said.
