Polish mayor stabbed at Gdansk fundraiser

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The mayor of the Polish city of Gdansk was seriously injured after being stabbed on stage at the country's biggest charity event on Sunday evening, police and media said.

Pawel Adamowicz, 53, was taken to the hospital after paramedics resuscitated him at the scene.

"I learned that doctors succeeded in re-establishing the cardiac function of Mr. Adamowicz who has been gravely wounded. There is hope but his condition remains serious," Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Twitter.

The attack took place at 27th Grand Finale of the annual Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, which is a fundraiser for the purchase of medical equipment, and the assailant was quickly apprehended by security guards and arrested.

A suspect is held on the ground by security personnel after an attack on the mayor of Gdansk during a charity event in Gdansk, Poland, January 13, 2019. /VCG Photo

A video recording of the attack posted on YouTube showed the 27-year-old bursting onto the podium.

After knifing the mayor, he seized the microphone and claimed to have been wrongly jailed by the government of the Civic Platform party and tortured. The mayor was a former member of the party and got the party's support in his re-election in 2018 municipal elections.

"That's why Adamowicz dies," the attacker said.

According to Polish media, the man had been sentenced to more than five years in prison for four armed attacks on banks in Gdansk.

Gdansk's Mayor Pawel Adamowicz, right, speaks during the 27th Grand Finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity in Gdansk, Poland, January 13, 2019. /VCG Photo

"The attack on the life and health of the mayor of Gdansk must be firmly condemned," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Twitter.

Interior Minister Joachim Brudzinski condemned the attack as "an incomprehensible act of barbarism."

Adamowicz has been mayor of Gdansk since 1998. In the 2018 regional election, he won 65 percent of votes.

(With input from agencies)