A man set himself on fire in Tiananmen Square over a court dispute last month, police in Beijing have confirmed. It is a rare case of such protest in the politically sensitive centre of China's capital.

The police said officers at the scene quickly extinguished the fire and that the 42-year-old man, surnamed Wang, survived, in what is thought to be the first self-immolation attempt at the site of the 1989 pro-democracy protests in five years.