New York (HRNW) Author Salman Rushdie has been airlifted to hospital after being stabbed multiple times in the neck on stage as he prepared to give a speech in upstate New York.
The writer, 75, was attacked as he was being introduced to the stage for the CHQ 2022 event in Chautauqua, near Buffalo, on Friday morning.
Witnesses claim that he was stabbed ten to fifteen times, as a man approached him from behind before rushing the stage.
Blood appeared to be spattered on the wall behind where Rushdie had been attacked, with some also seen on a chair.
His current condition is not known, and a man has been arrested by New York state troopers. The interviewer speaking to Rushdie also suffered a minor head injury.
During a press conference about red flag laws, Governor Kathy Hochul called the attack on Rushdie ‘heartbreaking’ before confirming that he is ‘alive.’
She added that he is ‘getting the care he needs at a local hospital’, and that a state police trooper ‘stood up and saved his life’ after the attack.