On 100th night of Portland protests, protester set on fire by Molotov cocktail

On 100th night of Portland protests, protester set on fire by Molotov cocktail
Image: Twitter via Brendan Gutenschwager

What is that warning conscientious parents give their children about playing with matches?

One protester in Portland is probably wishing today he had paid more attention to that sage piece of advice. On Saturday, he was hit with a Molotov cocktail thrown indiscriminately by a fellow rioter on day 100 of the protests that began after the May 25 death of George Floyd at the hands of police.

Ubiquitous videographer Brendan Gutenschwager, who has become the eyes of the protest scene, captured the incident beginning with the moment the unidentified victim of the carelessly thrown bomb begins running and jumping like a human torch, his legs on fire.

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Ultimately it’s not his fellow blac blockers who came to his aid but the police whose very existence he and his peers are protesting.

This is not the first incident of a protester catching fire. In March, a mob of rioters set fire to a historical building in Fayetteville, N.C. One of the arsonists, still inside the now-burning structure, attempted to accelerate the destruction by picking up a piece of burning debris and hurling it, presumably into an unlit area. Instead, he was engulfed by the flames.

Ben Bowles

Ben Bowles

Ben Bowles is a freelance writer and regular contributor to "Liberty Unyielding."

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