A man set himself on fire outside the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC on Tuesday night in protest against the president-elect’s upcoming inauguration.
The 45-year-old, who has not been identified, first set a pile of clothes ablaze before yelling “Trump” several times as “flames ran up his back”, according to witnesses.
Police said he suffered burns to his back but the man’s injuries were not life-threatening.
The man was taken to hospital but was not arrested.
The protester told a reporter from NBC who was on the scene: “I was trying to set myself on fire as a protest.
“To protest the fact we’ve elected somebody who’s completely incapable of respecting the constitution of the United States.” the man told Shomari Stone.
In another video filmed by Stone, the man says Trump is a “dictator”. As he speaks something in the pile of clothes he set alight explodes.
The incident happened around 9.30pm on Pennsylvania Avenue NW.
A record number of protestors are expected to attend Friday’s inauguration, far more than the previous record of the 25,000 that marched in 1973 for Richard Nixon.