Greek man sets himself on fire

[Phantasee]

55-Year-Old Man Sets Himself on Fire Because of Debt

A 55-year-old man was admitted to he hospital with multiple but not severe burns to his chest and back after trying to commit suicide. The man doused himself with gasoline and then set his clothes on fire simultaneously shouting that he was in great debt.

The incident occurred today at 3 PM in front of a Piraeus Bank branch in the city of Thessaloniki. The man was holding a loudspeaker in his hand and protested against the government, the banking system and political parties before his suicidal attempt. Police used fire extinguishers to put out the blaze.

According to the police, the man had suffered burns 15 months ago from trying once before to put an end to his life after complaining he could not pay the debts from his failed business.

NSFW Reuters photo, Reuters slideshow

Shades of Mohamed Bouazizi.

[mr friendly guy]

Playing devil's advocate here. How does he link his failed business to the government? Does he blame the new austerity measures meaning people will consume less? For all we know his business could have started failing even before the financial crisis. I wouldn't at all be surprised if he turns out to be the Greek equivalent of those Americans who are interviewed on news channels with McMansions and plasma television asking the president to do something, do anything about their mountains of debt.

We really need more information here.

[Narkis]

Local news haven't really reported much on this. The only things not mentioned on that article are that the bank is set to confiscate his house and this latest attempt happened after the bank didn't agree to restructure his debt payments.