The popular liberal mayor of the Polish port city of Gdansk died in hospital today after he was stabbed during a charity event.
53-year-old Pawel Adamowicz was stabbed on Sunday by an ex-convict who stormed onstage and said it was revenge against the country’s main opposition party.
The mayor died as a result of wounds to the heart and abdomen in spite of efforts to save him that involved a five-hour operation and blood transfusions, Health Minister Lukasz Szumowski said.
The assassination of Adamowicz, a six-term mayor who often mingled freely with citizens of his city, sent Poland into shock.
Even before his death was announced, marches against violence were being planned to take place across Poland in the evening. In Gdansk, the city flag was lowered to half-staff and Masses were planned, including one in Warsaw that Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki planned to attend.
The right-wing ruling Law and Justice party faced accusations from its critics that an atmosphere of hatred against Adamowicz and other liberal political opponents helped instigate the attack.
Government officials pushed back against that accusation, strongly denouncing the attack and stressing that the 27-year-old perpetrator had a history of violent bank robberies and possible mental illness.
