A 52-year-old Israeli man set himself on fire on Saturday during a Tel Aviv demonstration marking the anniversary of last summer's social protests, local Haaretz newspaper reported citing witnesses.
The man poured gasoline on his body and lit it as thousands of protesters marched along Kaplan street in the Israeli capital. He was hospitalized with serious burns shortly afterwards.
The man left a note at the scene blaming the state of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz for “taking from the poor and giving to the rich."
"The state of Israel stole from me and robbed me. It left me helpless," the note said.
Haaretz cited a co-protester as saying that the man became an activist in social protests last year after he lost his job as a taxi driver in Haifa following a stroke.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets in several cities across the country on Saturday to demand social justice and the return of a welfare state.
