Salman Rushdie was seated; attacker climbed the stage: The way it unfolded | World News

Writer Salman Rushdie was brutally stabbed by a 24-year-old Muslim man Hadi Matar on the stage of an occasion in New York Metropolis the place the author was about to ship his speech on the USA as a protected haven for exiled writers. Movies of the incident present how the author fell down on the stage and was then airlifted to the hospital the place he's being handled. Salman Rushdie's agent mentioned he suffered a grave harm in his stomach damaging his liver. The author could lose a watch, his agent mentioned. Additionally Learn | ‘Champion of free speech’: Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, Emmanuel Macron amongst leaders condemning assault on Salman Rushdie

Right here is how the assault unfolded:

The assault passed off at round 11am (native time) when the occasion was about to start. Salman Rushdie was being launched when the attacker, wearing black, jumped onto the stage and stabbed the author a number of occasions.

An endocrinologist within the viewers advised the New York Occasions that Rushdie fell down with a number of stab wounds and one was on the fitting facet of his neck. He was mendacity in a pool of blood. Folks had been screaming, 'He has a pulse, he has a pulse', the physician mentioned.

Additionally Learn: Salman Rushdie could lose eye, is on ventilator, his agent says

The viewers didn't, at first, perceive what was occurring. It was not clear to them whether or not Salman Rushdie was being stabbed or punched.

The attacker, later recognized as a 24-year-old man sympathiser of the Iranian authorities that had known as for Rushdie's demise, was caught instantly and the viewers was requested to depart the venue calmly.

A reporter of the Related Press, Joshua Goodman, who was current on the occasion, mentioned he arrived on the outside amphitheatre when the programme was nearly to start. Some viewers members even joked nervously that they didn't wish to be within the entrance row, Joshua mentioned including that the safety of the place was very lax. “There was a second of shock,” he mentioned. “Everybody within the viewers was sitting in disbelief.”

One one that was sitting within the entrance row advised New York Occasions he noticed the attacker coming from the left facet of the stage. There was blood throughout Rushdie's cheeks, he mentioned.