一名男子在特朗普受审的法院附近自焚

【中美创新时报2024 年 4 月 20 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）周五（19日）下午，一名男子在曼哈顿下城法院附近自焚，该法院正在为前总统唐纳德·特朗普的刑事审判选择陪审员。《纽约时报》记者Nate Schweber 和 Matthew Haag 对此作了下述报道。

本周早些时候，这名男子在曼哈顿刑事法院外徘徊，下午 1 点 35 分左右，在位于法院大楼对面的收集池公园 (Collect Pond Park)内，他在身上浇了助燃剂。围观者尖叫着开始奔跑，很快，明亮的橙色火焰吞没了该男子。他在自焚前向空中投掷支持反政府阴谋论的传单。

人们争先恐后地扑灭火焰，但数百英尺外都能感受到强烈的热量。

几分钟后，数十名警察赶到，将火扑灭。该男子被抬上救护车并匆匆离开。纽约消防局表示，他被送往医院，情况危急。

警察局一名高级官员确认，这名男子名叫马克斯·阿扎里洛 (Max Azzarello)，37 岁，来自佛罗里达州圣奥古斯丁。该官员要求匿名，因为该男子的身份尚未公开。阿扎里洛周四出现在法院外，举着一个标牌，上面写着上传相同小册子的网站地址。该网站的置顶帖子写道：“我在特朗普审判外自焚。”

阿扎里洛在周四接受采访时表示，他对美国政府的批评观点是由他对彼得·蒂尔（Peter Thiel）和加密货币的研究形成的。彼得·泰尔是科技亿万富翁和政治煽动者，也是主要的竞选捐助者。

目击火灾的人们表示，他们难以置信地看到阿扎里洛在公园内为特朗普支持者保留的区域内将小册子扔向空中，然后火焰冲向天空。身穿牛仔裤和深灰色T恤的阿扎里洛在大火中倒在地上。

一些小册子将纽约大学称为“暴民前线”，还提到了前总统乔治·W·布什、前副总统阿尔·戈尔以及在2000年总统选举重新计票中代表戈尔的律师大卫·博伊斯。

法院系统发言人阿尔·贝克表示，尽管一名法院官员因吸入烟雾而被送往医院，但审判日程不会受到影响。

本文最初发表于《纽约时报》。

题图：一些人聚集在曼哈顿法院外，前总统唐纳德·特朗普的封口费审判正在进行中。 SPENCER PLATT/GETTY

附原英文报道：

Man sets himself on fire near courthouse where Trump is on trial

By Nate Schweber and Matthew Haag The New York Times,Updated April 19, 2024, 6:25 p.m.

A few people gather outside of the Manhattan courthouse where former president Donald Trump’s hush money trial is under way.SPENCER PLATT/GETTY

NEW YORK — A man set himself on fire Friday afternoon near the lower Manhattan courthouse where jurors were being chosen for the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump.

The man, who had lingered outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse earlier this week, doused himself with accelerant around 1:35 p.m. in Collect Pond Park, across the street from the building. Onlookers screamed and started to run, and soon, bright orange flames engulfed the man. He threw leaflets espousing anti-government conspiracy theories into the air before setting himself on fire.

People rushed to extinguish the flames, but the intensity of the heat could be felt several hundred feet away.

After a few minutes, dozens of police officers arrived to smother the blaze. The man was loaded into an ambulance and rushed away. The New York Fire Department said he was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

A high-ranking Police Department official identified the man as Max Azzarello, 37, of St. Augustine, Florida. The official requested anonymity because the man had not been publicly identified. Azzarello had appeared outside the courthouse Thursday with a sign displaying the address of a website where the same pamphlets were uploaded. The top post of the website says, “I have set myself on fire outside the Trump Trial.”

In an interview Thursday, Azzarello said his critical views of the American government were shaped by his research into Peter Thiel, the technology billionaire and political provocateur who is a major campaign donor, and into cryptocurrency.

People who witnessed the fire said they were in disbelief as they saw Azzarello, who was in an area of the park reserved for supporters of Trump, toss the pamphlets into the air and then flames shoot toward the sky. Azzarello, who was wearing jeans and dark gray T-shirt, fell to the ground amid the fire.

Some of the pamphlets referred to New York University as a “mob front” and also mentioned former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Al Gore and lawyer David Boies, who represented Gore in the 2000 presidential election recount.

Al Baker, a spokesperson for the court system, said the trial schedule would not be affected, though one court officer had been taken to hospital because of the effects of smoke inhalation.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.