Police detain man threatening self-immolation at NII

Man walks into Kiryat Arba NII branch doused in liquid, flees after witnesses try stop him; individual known to local social services.

By BEN HARTMAN
Thinkstock Israeli police 370 (photo credit: Thinkstock)
Thinkstock Israeli police 370
(photo credit: Thinkstock)
Judea and Samaria police on Monday detained a 20-year-old man who threatened to set himself on fire inside a National Insurance Institute branch in the Kiryat Arba settlement earlier in the day.
A spokesman for the Judea and Samaria police said the man walked into the building doused in liquid, and began threatening that if the NII did not listen to his grievances he would set himself alight.
He fled the scene after employees called police. While witnesses said the man gave off a strong smell of alcohol, when police stopped him on the street they found that he had doused himself with water, and not any flammable liquid.
The man was then taken for a psychological examination and a meeting with counselors from the Welfare and Social Services Ministry.
Police said that while the man does not have a criminal record, he is well-known to social services in Kiryat Arba.
Israel has seen a wave of attempted and successful self-immolations, since Haifa resident Moshe Silman set himself on fire during a social justice protest in Tel Aviv on July 14.
Silman died of his wounds a week later, as did a disabled IDF veteran who set himself aflame later in July.