A Benghazi man who set himself on fire yesterday, Tuesday, in the city’s Suq Al-Arab has been named as Nasser Al-Amari, . . .[restrict]from the Al Salam district.
It was reported yesterday that he had a mental problem but this has since been denied. It is now being claimed that he set himself on fire in the market where he worked as a part-time porter in protest at the government’s economic policies, although there is no corroboration of this. He is said to be single and unable to afford to get married.
Amari, said to be born in 1966, was rushed to Benghazi’s Al Jalaa hospital with first degree burns. He is now reported to be unconscious and in very poor condition with 85 percent of his skin burned. He may be flown to Tripoli for specialised treatment.
Yesterday, there was widespread reluctance in many parts of the country to believe the story was true. This may be because it appeared to mirror too uncomfortably the self-immolation in December 2010 of the Tunisian vegetable seller Mohamed Bouazizi, which acted as the cataylst for the Tunisian revolution and the start of the Arab Spring.
The Libya Herald has seen a photo which purports to show Amari on fire but it is too horrific to reproduce. [/restrict]
