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The writer Salman Rushdie, who spent years in hiding and beneath police safety after Iranian officers known as for his execution, was attacked and stabbed within the neck on Friday whereas onstage in Chautauqua, close to Lake Erie in western New York, the state police stated.
The assault, which shook the literary world, occurred at about 11 a.m., shortly after Mr. Rushdie, 75, took the stage for a lecture on the Chautauqua Establishment, a group that provides arts and literary programming through the summer season.
Mr. Rushdie was taken by helicopter to an area hospital, the state police stated in a press release. His situation is just not but identified. His agent, Andrew Wylie, stated in an e mail Friday afternoon that Mr. Rushdie was present process surgical procedure. The New York State Police stated that they deliberate to carry a information convention on the assault at 5 p.m. Japanese time.
It was not clear what motivated the attacker.
Linda Abrams, from the Buffalo space, who was sitting on the entrance row, stated the assailant stored attempting to assault Mr. Rushdie even after he was restrained. “It took like 5 males to tug him away and he was nonetheless stabbing,” she stated. “He was simply livid, livid. Like intensely robust and simply quick.”
Rita Landman, an endocrinologist who was within the viewers, stated that Mr. Rushdie had a number of stab wounds, together with one to the proper facet of his neck, and that there was a pool of blood beneath his physique. However she stated he gave the impression to be alive. “Individuals have been saying, ‘He has a pulse, he has a pulse, he has a pulse,’” Ms. Landman stated.
The state police stated that the interviewer on the occasion had additionally “suffered a minor head harm” however didn’t establish him. The Chautauqua Establishment stated on Twitter that it was asking for “your prayers for Salman Rushdie and Henry Reese.” Mr. Reese, the moderator of the morning’s dialogue, co-founded a program for exiled writers.
Suzanne Nossel, the chief government officer of PEN America, which promotes free expression, stated that “we are able to consider no comparable incident of a public assault on a literary author on American soil.”
“Simply hours earlier than the assault, on Friday morning, Salman had emailed me to assist with placements for Ukrainian writers in want of secure refuge from the grave perils they face,” she stated in a press release. “Salman Rushdie has been focused for his phrases for many years however has by no means flinched nor faltered.”
Mr. Rushdie spent about 10 years beneath police safety, dwelling in hiding after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Chief of Iran after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, known as for his execution in 1989 as a result of his novel “The Satanic Verses” was thought-about offensive to Islam. The ebook was banned in India, the place he was born, and he was barred from the nation for greater than a decade.
Mr. Rushdie had simply come onstage to ship the morning lecture on the 4,000 seat amphitheater of Chautauqua Establishment, a gated group that options arts and literary programming every summer season, when he was attacked, witnesses stated.
He was there for a dialogue about america as a secure haven for exiled writers and different artists who’re beneath the specter of persecution. The dialog was scheduled to be moderated by Mr. Reese, the co-founder of a Pittsburgh nonprofit, Metropolis of Asylum, which is a residency program for exiled writers.
Mr. Rushdie had simply sat down and was being launched when the assailant rushed the stage and assaulted him.
“I may simply see his fists type of pounding on Salman,” one witness, Invoice Vasu, 72, stated.
Numerous individuals rushed to Mr. Rushdie’s help, Mr. Vasu stated, and shortly pinned the attacker to the bottom.
A trooper assigned to the occasion took the assailant into custody, the police stated.
Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York stated on Twitter that she had directed the State Police to help within the investigation and that “Our ideas are with Salman & his family members following this horrific occasion.”
A number of witnesses stated the attacker was capable of attain Mr. Rushdie simply, operating onstage and approaching him from behind. “There was only one attacker,” stated Elisabeth Healey, 75, who was within the viewers. “He was wearing black. He had a unfastened black garment on. He ran with lightning pace over to him.”
“It was very horrifying and it gave me a pit in my abdomen,” stated Jane Bulette, 68, who has been coming for greater than a decade. “How may they not have blocked off the steps to the stage?”
“There was an enormous safety lapse,” stated Ms. Bulette’s husband, John, 85, who witnessed the assault. “That any person may get that shut with none intervention was horrifying.”
Kyle Doershuk, 20, was working as an usher on the amphitheater on the time of the assault. He stated he was about 15 ft away from the assailant as he started to hurry the stage with a knife, after dropping a backpack. By the point Mr. Doershuk understood one thing was going flawed, the assault had begun.
Mr. Doershuk stated safety on the establishment is lax and that there didn’t look like any extra measures in place for Mr. Rushdie’s go to. “It’s very open; it’s very accessible; it’s a really relaxed atmosphere,” he stated. “In my view one thing like this was simply ready to occur.”
One other eyewitness, Anita Ayerbe, 57, stated she had seen the attacker on the grounds of the establishment on Thursday afternoon close to the amphitheater, and that he was capable of entry the stage simply.
“The amphitheater is a tender goal,” Ms. Ayerbe stated. “There was no apparent safety on the venue and he ran up unimpeded. The cops weren’t the primary ones on stage.”
Safety on the Chautauqua Establishment could be very mild. Whereas all guests to the group will need to have a cross to enter the grounds, there’s a minimal police presence contained in the campus. Most occasions are staffed by yellow-shirted “group security officers,” who’re unarmed, and a few higher-profile occasions have a uniformed officer on web site.
However even on the foremost amphitheater, which often hosts widespread musical acts and celeb audio system, there aren’t any bag checks or metallic detectors, and 1000’s of individuals come and go from the amphitheater at will.
“The Satanic Verses” was thought-about blasphemous by some Muslims as a result of it fictionalized a part of the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad. Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa in 1989 ordering Muslims to kill Mr. Rushdie.
The Iranian authorities publicly backed the fatwa for 10 years, till at the least 1998, when Iran’s president, Mohammad Khatami, stated Iran now not supported the killing. However the fatwa stays in place, reportedly with a bounty connected from an Iranian non secular basis of some $3.3 million as of 2012.
Mr. Rushdie printed a memoir, “Joseph Anton,” in regards to the fatwa. The title got here from the pseudonym he used whereas in hiding, taken from the primary names of Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekhov.
In recent times, Mr. Rushdie has loved a extra public life in New York Metropolis. In 2019, he spoke at a non-public membership in Manhattan to advertise his novel, “Quichotte.” Safety on the occasion was relaxed, and Mr. Rushdie mingled with visitors freely and had dinner with members of the membership afterward.
In an interview final yr, Mr. Rushdie was informal and easygoing as he spoke about literature from his Manhattan dwelling, adopting the air of somebody who had way back re-entered society and reveled in being a person about city. Requested in regards to the longstanding name for his dying he answered merely, “Oh, I’ve to stay my life.”
Jay Root reported from Chautauqua, N.Y., David Gelles from Putnam Valley, N.Y., and Elizabeth Harris from New York Metropolis. Edmund Lee and Julia Jacobs contributed reporting.
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