By Tamim Elyan
CAIRO: A 50-year-old set himself on fire Tuesday in front of the Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center in downtown Cairo.
The man was identified as Mohamed Hassan, a resident of Sayyeda Zeinab district. He was transferred to Mounira Hospital and found to have superficial burns on his right leg with 5 percent intensity, according to the Ministry of Health.
A low-ranking policeman at the scene threw himself at Hassan to prevent the fire from spreading to his whole body. The policeman wasn’t injured in the process, according to the ministry.
It wasn’t immediately clear why Hassan set himself on fire.
A man from Ismailia had set himself ablaze a day earlier in front of the nearby People’s Assembly. He was reportedly protesting a government policy preventing restaurant owners from buying cheap subsidized bread to resell to their patrons.
Similar incidents of self-immolation were reported in Algeria and Mauritania this week.
Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi had set himself on fire last month, triggering a series of protests throughout the country that eventually led President Zain El Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country last Friday.
