Europe

Teenager Sets Himself on Fire Outside U.S. Embassy in Denmark

HARROWING

The 18-year-old was conscious when the flames were extinguished, police said.

Police officers and firefighters help a 18-year old man who set himself on fire in front of the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, April 21, 2023.
Thomas Sjoerup/Ritzau Scanpix via Reuters

A teenager apparently set fire to himself outside the U.S. Embassy in Denmark on Friday. Local media reports say embassy staff contacted the authorities about the incident outside the diplomatic building in Copenhagen. “The fire is out and the man is conscious,” Copenhagen Police tweeted on Friday. They later added that the man is an “18-year-old Danish citizen” and that he had been taken to a local hospital for treatment. It’s not clear what may have motivated the teen’s actions. According to the Berlingske newspaper, an eyewitness saw the man being “taken out of the embassy on a stretcher” and said bandages could be seen on his legs. A reporter for the outlet said people at the scene assumed the man “must have used lighter fluid” to ignite the blaze.

Read it at Politiken