Salman Rushdie, 75, stabbed at education center where 100,000 people gather
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Salman Rushdie was stabbed at an event for creatives at an upstate New York education center where 100,000 people gather each summer for ‘community and personal growth.’
The novelist, who was knifed in the neck while on stage, was preparing to give a lecture on City Asylum, a Pittsburgh-based sanctuary for writers under threat of persecution.
The event was part of the Chautauqua Institution’s ongoing lecture series – which runs across summer. Thousands of people travel for the events at the non-profit education center.
Rushdie was prepared to speak alongside Henry Reese, the co-founder and president of City of Asylum.
He was attending for a discussion of the United States as asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression.
His speech was to begin at 10:45 a.m. as a ‘discussion of the United States as asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression.’
Prior to his speaking engagement at the institution, Rushdie had given a speech in 1997 which had inspired Reese to found City of Asylum, the organization said.
This is not the first time Rushdie has taken part in a lecture series hosted by the institution, according to its website.
Medics attended to Rushdie after the attack, with witnesses saying a man ‘punched and stabbed’ the author as he was announced on stage
Blood appeared to be spattered on the wall behind where Rushdie had been attacked, with some also seen on a chair
Chautauqua Institution, founded in 1874 as a ‘vacation learning’ spot, is a nonprofit organization located on Chautauqua Lake near Buffalo in western New York.
The institution’s website says it is ‘dedicated to the exploration of the best in human values and the enrichment of life through a program that explores the important religious, social and political issues of our times.’
Throughout the nine weeks of summer, ‘more than 100,000 people visit Chautauqua Institution in search of respite, community and personal growth.
‘And every summer, they find it,’ according to the website.
But horror struck on Friday morning as the novelist as attacked while on stage at the event.
Witnesses claimed that he managed to walk off stage with assistance and the attacker was restrained.
Blood appeared to be spattered on the wall behind where Rushdie had been attacked, with some also seen on a chair.
New York state police said today: ‘On August 12, 2022, at about 11 am, a male suspect ran up onto the stage and attacked Rushdie and an interviewer.
‘Rushdie suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck, and was transported by helicopter to an area hospital.
‘His condition is not yet known. The interviewer suffered a minor head injury.”
Rushdie was attached ahead of his speech in Chautauqua, near Buffalo
Rushdie has previously received death threats for his writing, with his book the Satanic Verses sparking protests in 1988
Hundreds of people in the audience gasped at the sight of the attack this morning, and were then evacuated.
A Chautauqua Institution spokesperson said: ‘We are dealing with an emergency situation. I can share no further details at this time.’
The author was knighted in 2007 in Britain ‘for services to literature’ by his friend Tony Blair.
Rushdie has previously received death threats for his writing, with his book the Satanic Verses which supposedly insulted the Prophet Mohammed and The Koran.
He wrote the Satanic Verses, which resulted in a culture war being sparked in 1988 in Britain – with protests taking place in the UK along with book burnings.
Pakistan banned the book, and he was issued a fatwa – a death sentence – by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini in February 1989.
Khomeini called for the death of Rushdie and his publishers, and also called for Muslims to point him out to those who could kill him if they could not themselves.
The fatwa, or ‘spiritual opinion’, followed a wave of book burnings in Britain and rioting across the Muslim world which lead to the deaths of 60 people and hundreds being injured.
Rushdie was put under round-the-clock security at the expense of the British taxpayer when a $3million bounty was put on his head.
He was forced to go into hiding for a decade with police protection, and previously reported that he received a ‘sort of Valentines card’ from Iran each year letting him know the country has not forgotten the vow to kill him.