Parliament protester who set himself on fire dies

  • 22/09/2017

The man who set himself on fire outside Parliament has died overnight.

Parliament's forecourt and front lawn went in to lockdown as incident unfolded just before 4pm on Thursday.

It's believed the man had been protesting.

He passed away in Wellington Hospital overnight.

Multiple signs with writing on them could be seen lying on the ground near a patch of scorched grass on the lawn in front of Parliament.

The forecourt and front lawn of Parliament has been declared a crime scene by Police.

Senior sergeant Glen Turner said the incident was "highly unusual and extremely unfortunate". 

Footage shows the man being rushed into an ambulance and treated at the scene, however Newshub has chosen not to publish this.

Police are collecting evidence at the scene to establish what occurred and what the man's motives were. His identity has not been established, nor what his movements were before the incident.

A foreign reporter who witnessed the incident described seeing the man on fire on the lawn.

"We didn't know it was a person to begin with," she told Fairfax.

"We were yelling for help ... a man came over with his jacket and tried to beat the flame out."

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Newshub.

Ambulances are seen outside parliament