ATLANTA — A protester was in essential situation Friday after setting themself on fireplace exterior the Israeli consulate in Atlanta, authorities stated. A safety guard who tried to intervene was additionally injured.
A Palestinian flag discovered on the scene was a part of the protest, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum stated at a information convention.
He added that investigators didn’t consider there was any connection to terrorism and not one of the consular workers was ever in peril.
“We do not see any threat here,” he stated. “We believe it was an act of extreme political protest that occurred.”
Authorities didn’t launch the protester’s identify, age or gender. The individual arrange exterior the constructing within the metropolis’s midtown neighborhood on Friday afternoon and used gasoline as an accelerant, Atlanta Fire Chief Roderick Smith stated.
The protester was in essential situation, with burn accidents to the physique. A safety guard that attempted to cease the individual was burned on his wrist and leg, Smith stated.
Schierbaum stated police are conscious of heightened tensions within the Jewish and Muslim neighborhood and have stepped up patrols at sure places, together with the consulate.
Demonstrations have been widespread and tensions within the U.S. have escalated because the loss of life toll rises within the Israel-Hamas warfare. A weeklong cease-fire that introduced the exchanges of dozens of hostages held by Hamas for scores of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel gave method Friday morning to resumed preventing between Israel and Hamas.
