The attack happened at a center dedicated to study and reflect. A video on TikTok that was later taken down shows the chaotic moments after the attacker jumped on stage at a normally quiet institution. Mr. Rushdie, who has lived a relatively open life after many years of being semi-hidden, was just sitting down to talk when a man attacked.
A crowd of people immediately ran to the author lying on the stage to ask for help. Members of the stunned audience could be seen throughout the entire auditorium. While some were shouting, others stood up and moved slowly towards the stage. People began to gather in the aisles. One can be heard shouting repeatedly “Oh, my God”.
Security at Chautauqua Institution is minimal. At its main amphitheater, which regularly hosts famous musical performances and famous speakers and where Mr. Rushdie is scheduled to speak, there are no bag checks or metal detectors.
Little is known about Mr. Matar, the man accused of the attack. At a home listed as his residence in Fairview, NJ, no one answered the door Saturday morning. Many of Mr. Matar’s neighbors said they did not know him or his family, although some residents, when viewed photos of Mr. Matar, said they recognized him as someone who always walked around the neighborhood with their heads bowed, no Never make eye contact. .
In Lebanon, the mayor of Yaroun, a village on the southern border with Israel, said that Matar’s father lived there and that authorities had tried to reach him without success. Mayor Ali Tihfe said the father lived in a stone house in the center of the village and used to herd goats and sheep.
“He refused to meet anyone, or even open the door for us,” Mr. Tihfe said in a phone interview.
Mr. Rushdie has lived under the threat of an assassination since 1989, about six months after the publication of his novel “Satan’s Verses”. The book fictionalized portions of the Prophet Muhammad’s life with descriptions that offended some Muslims, who believed the novel was blasphemous. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led Iran after the 1979 revolution, issued a decree known as a fatwa on February 14, 1989. It ordered Muslims to kill Mr. Rushdie.
Hwaida Saad Contribution report from Beirut.
