Man sets himself ablaze opposite courthouse where Trump trial underway

Police have identified the man as Max Azzarello, a Florida resident born in 1987 who came to New York earlier this week.

A colourful pamphlet was photographed at the scene, with the title “The True History of the World (Haunted Carnival Tradition).”

It is linked to a Substack manifesto belonging to Azzarello that reads: “I am an investigative researcher who has set himself on fire outside of the Trump trial in Manhattan.

“This extreme act of protest is to draw attention to an urgent and important discovery: We are victims of a totalitarian con, and our own government (along with many of their allies) is about to hit us with an apocalyptic fascist world coup.”

The incident took place on the fourth day of Trump’s historic trial, in which the former president faces 34 counts of falsifying business records before the 2016 election to cover up a sex scandal involving porn star Stormy Daniels.

Daniels said she had sex with Trump in 2006, shortly after his wife Melania had given birth to their son. But the issue became a political liability 10 years later when Daniels had sought to sell the story while Trump was running for president against Hillary Clinton.

In order to silence the affair, Trump’s fixer and then attorney at the time, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels $US130,000 in hush money, which Trump is alleged to have fraudulently filed as a legal expense.

The trial began on Monday, with hundreds of demonstrators and reporters descending on Lower Manhattan for the historic moment. Security had been beefed up across the city, with barricades stretching for blocks – including inside Collect Pond Park itself, to separate pro and anti-Trump demonstrators.

Teams of police officers have also been stationed on every street since the trial began, and helicopters fly overhead whenever Trump’s Secret Service-led motorcade travels to and from his penthouse on Fifth Avenue.

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New York Police Chief Jeffrey Maddrey admitted he was concerned by the incident, particularly given the presence of a former president nearby, and would now review security protocols.

However, he added: “This gentleman did not breach the security protocols. The park was open to the public. But of course, we’re going to look at everything and with the magnitude of what’s going on around right here, we’ll reassess our security with our federal partners. … If we need to tighten up security, maybe we’ll shut down the park.”

The trial continues.