Man who set himself on fire outside Donald Trump’s New York trial identified as Max Azzarello

A man set himself on fire outside the court in New York where Donald Trump is on trial last night.

In horrific scenes, the man went up in flames in the park over the road from the Manhattan Criminal Court, as the jury was chosen.

Witnesses said that the man doused himself in accelerant, stood tall and then set himself ablaze.

Horrified onlookers screamed in shock as the fire engulfed him.

He put his hands by his ears and fell to the floor shaking violently.

Shocked TV news crews, who were reporting on the trial, turned around to see the fireball behind them.

A panicked CNN reporter initially thought a shooter was on the loose. Police officers rushed to smother him and he was put into an ambulance apparently alive.

The man, reported to be 37-year-old Max Azzarello was taken to hospital and his condition is unclear.

He was standing in the designated area for protesters and, before the horrific events, had thrown dozens of fliers into the air that referenced the disputed 2000 election between Al Gore and George W Bush.

From the debris, the police took photos of a sign reading: “Trump is with Biden and they’re about to fascist coup us.”

Flyers left at the scene linked to an online manifesto entitled: “I have set myself on fire outside the Trump Trial.”

In the 2,600-word rant, Mr Azzarello said he had self-immolated as an “extreme act of protest” over an imminent “fascist world coup”.

Within the courtroom, 12 jurors and six alternates were selected.

Opening arguments in Mr Trump’s trial, where the former President is accused of falsifying business records, have been set for Monday.

Mr Trump, the Republican Presidential candidate, denies 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormey Daniels.

It is the first time a former President has gone on trial. Prosecutors claim the payment was designed to unfairly influence the 2016 election as it took place days before the vote.

Among the panel of seven men and five women jurors, is a project development manager who said she thought Mr Trump was ‘very selfish and self-serving’ but was allowed to serve.

Outside court, Mr Trump railed against a gag order imposed by Judge Juan Merchan, barring him from making comments about him, the witnesses and the judge’s family.

Mr Trump claimed that the judge was “taking away my constitutional rights to speak”.