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The man who was preparing to interview Salman Rushdie in New York state before the famous novelist was attacked said Sunday that he initially thought someone was making a cruel joke, but when he saw the blood , he was stunned.
On Friday, an attacker stormed the stage at a literary event, stabbing Rushdie in the neck and stomach, as well as Henry Rees, president of the nonprofit Sanctuary Cities; he said it took him a while to understand what happened.
“It’s hard to understand. It looks like a bad prank, without any sense of reality,” Rees, 73, told CNN.
“Then when there was blood behind him, it became a reality.”
Also read: Salman Rushdie ‘turned off the ventilator and talked’ the day after the attack, agents say
Reese, who appeared online on Sunday with a bruised and swollen right eye wrapped in a large bandage, declined to discuss the details of the attack.
But he said when a man took the stage to play, he believed the incident was a “false reference” to a religious decree issued by Iran’s leader demanding Muslims to kill Rushdie, rather than a “real attack”.
The suspect, Hadi Matar, 24, was thrown to the ground by staff and other spectators before being taken into police custody.
Rushdie spent years under police protection after Iranian leaders demanded the killing of him over his portrayal of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad in the novel “The Satanic Verses.”
Also read: Indian leader’s reaction to attack on Salman Rushdie: Another reminder…
Reese said he would discuss with Rushdie the Sanctuary City movement, which aims to protect free speech, which Reese said he started after hearing an inspiring Rushdie speech in 1997.
“It’s a grim irony — or maybe the intent — to attack not just his body, but everything he stands for,” Rees said.
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