Terrifying moment Tibetan protester sets himself on FIRE outside United Nations building in NYC

By MELISSA KOENIG, US REPORTER and SHAWN COHEN, US SENIOR REPORTER Published: 02:53, 3 July 2026 | Updated: 02:59, 3 July 2026 A Tibetan protester filmed himself as he set himself on fire outside the United Nations building in New York City on Thursday.  Palden Lobsang, 52, shared the video, capturing him walking to the street corner in Midtown Manhattan, carrying a Tibetan flag and casually self-immolating, sources told the Daily Mail. He then stood in the middle of the intersection, throwing flyers that read 'China out of Tibet' and 'Free Tibet' before cars passed him by.  After about a minute, Lobsang could be seen collapsing to the ground still on fire, and soon two security officers could be seen rushing to the intersection to extinguish the fire. Meanwhile, a woman who stumbled onto the scene appeared to have called 911, and Lobsang was pronounced dead at 7.04pm, sources said. His Facebook profile shows he had earlier shared pictures of himself sitting outside the Cipriani event venue carrying New York City tourism bags.  Palden Lobsang, 52, filmed himself as he set himself on fire outside the United Nations building in New York City on Thursday This is a breaking news story and will be updated.  No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.