Watch As Man Reportedly Sets Himself On Fire Over Vaccine Mandate

An Australian man set himself on fire in the middle of the street on New Years Day to reportedly protest vaccine mandates, according to video and the Herald Sun.

The unidentified man was critically injured just before 8:00 p.m, local time in Melbourne when he doused his car and himself in gasoline while ranting about the new COVID-19 vaccine mandate, the Herald Sun reported. Firefighters and police officers rushed on the scene and poured water all over the man to put out the fire.

A #Victorian man set himself on fire inside his car while screaming about #COVID19 vaccine mandates.

Shocked bystanders pinned down the man as police and firefighters doused him with water and rushed him to the hospital with life-threatening injuries#auspol #Melbourne #victoria pic.twitter.com/gfcZpx9f9h

— 5 News Australia (@5NewsAustralia) January 1, 2022

Once the flames were gone, officers pinned the unidentified man to the ground before he was taken away in an ambulance to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, a Victoria Police spokesperson said, according to the report. (RELATED: Australian State Queensland Denies Organ Transplants To Unvaccinated Patients)

One witness who helped restrain the man told the outlet the man’s skin was burning.

“His skin was burning, he was on fire,” the unidentified witness told the Herald Sun. “His skin was stuck to (my) shirt. He was off his face screaming about the mandates.”

Lydia O’Connor, who had been dining at a restaurant near the scene of the incident said she heard the man “screaming about mandates. He was screaming: no vax ID and throwing books.”

“He poured gas on himself and on his car. It was on purpose,” she reportedly said.

Under Victoria’s vaccine mandate, “almost all workers … must be fully vaccinated to attend work.”