A laid-off worker has set himself on fire in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, packed with revellers celebrating China's National Day, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The worker, identified as 49-year-old Yang Peiquan from Gong'an County in the central province of Hubei, set himself ablaze at the square's southeast corner on Wednesday, Xinhua quoted police as saying.
Police immediately put out the fire in the heavily guarded square. Yang suffered minor injuries and was hospitalized, it said.
State television said 250,000 people were in the square for the flag raising ceremony on the northern side of the square at sunrise on Wednesday.
Xinhua said Yang's motives were under investigation, but on September 15 a Chinese farmer set himself on fire in the square to protest against a government decision to relocate his family.
Peasants, laid-off workers and others have been known to make dramatic suicide attempts to press claims of social injustice. In July, a Beijing man killed himself by drinking pesticide after a local sanitation bureau decided to build a public lavatory next to his home, Xinhua reported.
In 2001, the square was the scene of self-immolation by five people accused by the government of belonging to the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement. Falun Gong denies they were true adherents and accused the government of staging the incident, in which a 12-year-old girl and her mother died.
CNN
