this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2024
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“I will no longer be complicit in genocide [in Gaza]. I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest,” the man apparently said before setting himself alight and repeatedly shouting “Free Palestine!”

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Sure, maybe if they drew their weapons immediately, before his act. That'd make sense. They wouldn't know what he was gonna do.

The trouble is, based on the reporting we have, they drew their guns after he lit himself on fire, not before:

as soon as he was engulfed in flames they started yelling at him to get down on the ground. They even drew their guns on the burning man before someone pushed them to get fire extinguishers to extinguish the fire.

I'm thinking by the time the guy was engulfed in flames he was a little too preoccupied to do much else.

Can you imagine facing a living bonfire, and your first thought is "I should draw my gun and tell them to get down on the ground"? There's genuinely no excuse for that level of inhumanity.