A Polish mayor was fighting for his life today after being stabbed on stage during a charity event in an attack condemned as an act of “inexcusable barbarity” by European leaders.
Pawel Adamowicz, 53, mayor of Gdansk, fell clutching his stomach after being repeatedly knifed by a convicted criminal last night in the city.
Doctors resuscitated Mr Adamowicz on the spot and transported him to the hospital, where he had five hours of surgery in which he was given 41 units of blood.
One of the surgeons, Dr Tomasz Stefaniak, said Mr Adamowicz was in “very, very serious condition” after he suffered a “serious wound to the heart, a wound to the diaphragm and to the internal organs”.
After the attack, the assailant shouted from the stage that he had been wrongly jailed under a previous national government led by Civic Platform, the party which the mayor once belonged to.
He said his name was Stefan and that “I was jailed but innocent … Civic Platform tortured me. That’s why Adamowicz just died.”
Police said the suspect, who was arrested, was a 27-year-old recently released from prison for bank robberies.
A spokesman said the attacker appeared to be mentally ill, and gained access to the area with a media badge. It is not clear how he acquired the credential.
Television footage shows Mr Adamowicz on stage with a sparkler in hand, telling the audience that it had been a “wonderful day” before the attacker rushes towards him.
Mr Adamowicz is known as a progressive voice. Jerzy Owsiak, head of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, which organised the Lights to Heaven fundraiser, is a liberal critic of the right-wing government.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he was “shocked” by the attack and expressed “solidarity with the city he leads, his family and supporters … We are praying for his swift recovery.”
Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said: “The attack is worthy of the highest condemnation.” Interior minister Joachim Brudzinski said it was an act of “inexcusable barbarity”.
European Council president Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister who co-founded Civil Platform and is from Gdansk, tweeted: “Let’s all pray for Mayor Adamowicz. Pawel, we are with you.”
