Petitioners attempt self-immolation in Beijing

Two men and one woman attempted to set themselves on fire in Beijing’s Wangfujing shopping district on Wednesday in protest over an unspecified grievance, AFP reported. The three men sat in a vehicle and started the fire at an intersection in the busy shopping area, according to a police statement. "The three men had come to Beijing to present a petition over a problem," said the statement from the Beijing Public Security Bureau’s press office, noting that the car’s license plates were not from Beijing. The statement said two of the men were taken to hospital with injuries that were not life threatening. Further reports revealed that one of the "men" was a woman. A later report in English-language state media said that one man was in police custody while the other man and the woman were in Beijing Jishuitan Hospital receiving treatment for severe burns. So far, there has been no coverage of the incident on state-run Chinese-language wire services.