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Post by pieter on Jan 13, 2019 17:27:37 GMT -7
 Gdańsk mayor stabbed on stage during charity event in PolandPaweł Adamowicz in serious condition after thousands of people witness apparent assassination attempt. Police officers apprehend the man who is believed to have stabbed Gdańsk mayor, Paweł Adamowicz. Photograph: Piotr Hukalo/East News/REX/ShutterstockThe mayor of the northern Polish city of Gdańsk, Paweł Adamowicz, was stabbed on Sunday evening in an apparent assassination attempt in front of thousands of people during a charity concert.
Adamowicz, who has served as mayor of Gdańsk since 1998, was resuscitated at the scene and rushed to a nearby hospital where he underwent surgery. Doctors described his condition as “critical” and “serious”.
Interior minister Joachim Brudziński described it as “an attack of inexplicable barbarity”. Polish president Andrzej Duda said: “Today I am unconditionally with him and his loved ones, just as I hope all of us compatriots are. I pray for his return to health and full strength.”
“Shocked to hear of the attack on Paweł Adamowicz, Mayor of Gdańsk, this evening,” the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, wrote on Twitter. “Sending best wishes for his swift recovery, and solidarity to the city he leads, his family and supporters.”
Polish media reports quoting police sources have named the alleged assailant as Stefan W, a 27-year-old from Gdańsk with a record of violent crime. Polish law restricts the surnames of people accused of a crime being reported.
The alleged assailant as Stefan W., a 27-year-old from Gdańsk with a record of violent crime
Video footage of the incident shows the assailant addressing the crowd from a microphone on the stage. He is reported as saying: “Hello! Hello! My name is Stefan. I sat innocent in prison, I sat innocent in prison. Civic Platform tortured me, and that’s why Adamowicz is dead.”
Adamowicz was a member of Poland’s pro-European Civic Platform, which governed Poland between 2007 and 2015, before leaving the party to fight local elections as an independent. It is understood that Stefan W was convicted of a series of violent assaults and sentenced to prison in 2014.
 An ambulance believed to be carrying the Gdańsk mayor, Paweł Adamowicz, to hospital. Photograph: Adam Warżawa/EPAAccording to police sources quoted by Polish news broadcaster TVN24, the assailant is understood to have been planning the attack for some time.
The fact that the assailant was able not only to gain access to the stage and to attack the mayor but also to address the crowd in the aftermath has raised serious questions about security, which was provided by a private firm.
The attack happened during the culmination of the annual Great Orchestra of Christmas festivities, a nationwide charity drive for equipment to treat children in state-run hospitals. The charity has raised more than 951 million zloty (£200m) since it was founded 26 years ago. Concerts were being held for the charity across the country.
Adamowicz was a powerful liberal voice in a country that has been governed by the rightwing Law and Justice party since 2015. He is best known in Poland and internationally as a staunch supporter of LGBT rights and the rights of migrants and refugees during a period of rising anti-migrant sentiment.
“I am a European so my nature is to be open,” Adamowicz told the Guardian in 2016. “Gdańsk is a port and must always be a refuge from the sea.”
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Post by pieter on Jan 13, 2019 18:40:31 GMT -7
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Post by Jaga on Jan 13, 2019 22:07:34 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Jan 14, 2019 5:50:27 GMT -7
Dear Jaga,
I showed what I could find and like you said this guy wasn't innocent. He held some grudge towards the mayor, but I read that he had a history of violent crimes. I found the video, but do not understand Polish so I didn't knew what he said. I read that he made some statement on stage after the stabbing, before these guys grabbed him and worked him to the flour. Like you I see this as a terrible incident and have zero sympathy for the attacker. Whatever his motives are. It is schocking indeed!
Cheers,
Pieter
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Post by pieter on Jan 14, 2019 6:05:29 GMT -7
Watch this link of the BBC please with the video: The video shows a mother who was in the audience, her child (daughter) said; ' The Mayor was finishing his speech, and we started the countdown, and my daughter told me after a while "Mom, look, that man has a knife, someone has a knife.' The police woman says: " The most important thing for us is to know how this individual found himself so close to the mayor." www.bbc.com/news/topics/cywd23g0q1mt/poland |
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Post by pieter on Jan 14, 2019 6:18:37 GMT -7
 Pawel Adamowicz, Gdansk mayor, stabbed at Poland charity eventThe mayor of the Polish city of Gdansk has been seriously injured after being stabbed on stage at the country's biggest charity event, officials say.
Pawel Adamowicz, 53, was taken to hospital, where he is in a critical condition after five hours of surgery.
The 27-year-old suspect, who has a criminal record, has been detained.
He said the Civic Platform party, which led the previous government and had supported Mr Adamowicz's re-election, had wrongfully imprisoned him.
Mr Adamowicz suffered very serious abdominal injuries during the attack. During a five-hour operation, the mayor was given 41 units of blood.
"He remains in a very, very serious condition," one of his doctors said early on Monday. "The coming hours will be decisive."
In a later update on his condition, doctors said Mr Adamowicz was not breathing on his own and a machine was helping to operate his heart and lungs.What do we know about the attack?The incident took place at the finale of the annual Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity event, which was attended by hundreds of people. A man holds a knife after the stabbing in Gdansk (Reuters)Television footage showed the suspect, who was released from prison recently, shouting "Adamowicz is dead" and claiming he had been tortured in prison.
Polish police said he had access to the stage using a media badge, and they are now investigating how he obtained it. Polish broadcaster TVP reported that he had been released from prison in December.
President Andrzej Duda said he was informed that "doctors succeeded in reanimating the heart of the seriously injured mayor".
"There is hope but his condition is very difficult," he said on Twitter, calling on people to pray for Mr Adamowicz.
Doctors said his heart was wounded, as was his diaphragm - the muscle between belly and chest which we use to breathe.Who is Pawel Adamowicz?Mr Adamowicz is a native of Gdansk, and has been its mayor for 20 years.  People gather in front of the hospital where the mayor is being treatedA graduate of Gdansk university's law school, he is married to a professor there, and the pair have two daughters - one a teenager and one under 10. His wife was in London at the time of the attack and Poland sent a government plane to bring her home, Polish media reported.
His self-written online biography says he helped to organise student strikes in 1988 - a year of mass nationwide strikes against the communist government. Poland would declare a new democratic republic a year later.
In 1990, he became a city councillor for Gdansk, rising to mayor of the city in 1998. He has held the office ever since. His most recent victory was in November, granting him a sixth term which is due to run until 2023.What has the reaction been?Blood donors lined up to contribute after news of Mr Adamowicz's massive blood loss were reported.
The stabbing, during an event that raises money for children's hospitals, has shocked Poland, the BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw reports.
Moments before the attack, Mr Adamowicz posted a picture on Instagram from the stage of the event, where dozens of people were holding white lights.
http://instagram.com/p/BsledmdHaWz
The popular mayor, a former member of Civic Platform, is seen as a liberal voice and has supported rights for minorities.
Interior Minister Joachim Brudzinski said the attack was "an act of inexplicable barbarism".
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Twitter: "The attack on the life and health of Paul Adamowicz is worthy of the highest condemnation." |
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