WARSAW (Reuters) - Pawel Adamowicz, the liberal mayor of the Polish city of Gdansk, died on Monday of his wounds, a day after being stabbed by a man who rushed the stage during a charity event.

“We couldn’t win,” Poland’s health minister Lukasz Szumowski told reporters via private broadcaster TVN. Doctors had operated on Adamowicz for five hours, state news agency PAP said.

Adamowicz was attacked while attending the annual Great Orchestra of Christmas charity, a fundraiser where volunteers collect money for medical equipment in hospitals.

Television footage showed a man screaming “Adamowicz is dead!” as he rushed the stage and stabbed the mayor, who crumpled to the floor.

Speaking on the stage before he was arrested, the man accused the mayor’s former party of putting him in prison and said he was tortured.

The attacker has been identified by Polish authorities as a 27-year-old named Stefan. His full name has so far been withheld.

The charges against the attacker should be changed from attempted murder to murder, said a spokeswoman for the Gdansk prosecutor’s office after Adamowicz’s death, according to PAP.

Politicians across the political spectrum in Poland condemned the stabbing, including members of the ruling nationalist Law and Justice Party (PiS), such as Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Interior Minister Joachim Brudzinski. Adamowicz was an outspoken opponent of PiS.

“I’m expressing great pain for the tragic death due to the criminal attack on mayor Pawel Adamowicz. We express solidarity with his family,” Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the country’s ruling party leader was quoted as saying in a tweet from the party spokeswoman.

Polish President Andrzej Duda will meet with political party leaders on Monday to organize a march against violence and hatred in the wake of the attack.

Adamowicz stood out for his initiatives to encourage migrants to seek refuge in the northern Polish city, and for his support of a protest campaign defending the rule of law in Poland against PiS efforts to increase its control over the judiciary and other bodies.

Adamowicz was one of Poland’s longest-serving mayors, holding his position in Gdansk since 1998. In the 2018 regional election, he won 65 percent of votes.</s>WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The popular liberal mayor of the Polish port city of Gdansk died on Monday after he was stabbed during a charity event the evening before by an ex-convict who stormed onstage and said it was revenge against a political party the politician once belonged to.

Pawel Adamowicz, 53, 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 fight for his life has been lost,” 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, rallies against violence were being planned to take place across Poland in the evening. In Gdansk, the city flag was lowered to half-staff and a Mass was planned for later in the day.

The right-wing ruling Law and Justice party faced accusations from its critics that an atmosphere of hatred against Adamowicz and others liberal political opponents helped instigate the attack.

Government officials appeared to be pushing 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.

The ex-convict who rushed onto the stage with a knife Sunday and stabbed Adamowicz shouted that it was revenge against Civic Platform, which Adamowicz belonged to for many years.

The assailant shouted from the stage that he had been wrongly imprisoned under a previous government led by Civic Platform. He said his name was Stefan and that “I was jailed but innocent. … Civic Platform tortured me. That’s why Adamowicz just died.”

Deputy Chief Prosecutor Krzysztof Sierak said there are “doubts” as to the mental state of the attacker, who used a 14.5-centimeter (5.5-inch) knife on Adamowicz, and that two psychiatrists will examine him. He had served 5 ½ years in prison and was released toward the end of last year.

Adamowicz, who has been the city’s mayor for more than 20 years, grabbed his belly and collapsed in front of the audience during the “Lights to Heaven” fundraiser organized by the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity.

The attack triggered an outpouring of solidarity, with many people donating blood in Gdansk on Monday. Some said they were given time off work to help save Adamowicz.

The spokeswoman for the ruling Law and Justice party Beata Mazurek said the attack should be “absolutely condemned by all, regardless of what side of the political spectrum they are on.”

She insisted politicians in Poland need “greater responsibility for words, for deeds” because “there is no shortage of madmen on both sides” of the political scale.

Ruling authorities also sent a government plane to transport the mayor’s wife, who had been traveling, from London back to Gdansk.

The government’s critics, however, said that they believed that animosity voiced against Adamowicz by ruling party officials, sometimes carried on state television, as well as by extremists, played a role.

Adamowicz was part of the democratic opposition formed in Gdansk under the leadership of Lech Walesa during the 1980s. After leaving Civic Platform, he was re-elected to a sixth term as an independent candidate in the fall.

As mayor, he was a progressive voice, supporting sex education in schools, LGBT rights and tolerance for minorities. He showed solidarity with the Jewish community when Gdansk synagogue had its windows broken last year, strongly denouncing the vandalism.

Adamowicz also advocated bringing wounded Syrian children to Gdansk for medical treatment, a plan, however, blocked by the Law and Justice government. After he took that stand, a far-right group, the All-Polish Youth, issued what they called a “political death notice” for Adamowicz.

The last politically motivated attack in Poland was in 2010 in Lodz when a man shouting that he wanted to kill Law and Justice party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski fatally shot an aide to one of the party’s European Parliament lawmakers.

Kaczynski, at the time an opposition leader, blamed the attack on an “atmosphere of hate” under Civic Platform.</s>Pawel Adamowicz, a 53-year-old mayor of the Polish city of Gdansk, lost the battle against the fatal injury he suffered on Sunday, when he was attacked on stage by a 27-year-old. Immediately after the stabbing, Mr Adamowicz was taken to hospital for serious abdominal injuries and underwent a five-hour surgery. Lukasz Szumowski, the health minister of Poland, delivered the sad news on Monday, telling local media: "We couldn't win".

The President of the European Council and Polish national, Donald Tusk, expressed his condolences. Praising the mayor and revealing he was a "good friend", he wrote on Twitter: "Paweł Adamowicz, Mayor of Gdańsk, a man of Solidarity and freedom, a European, my good friend, has been murdered. May he rest in peace." The attacker, who has previous criminal record, has been arrested. Police spokesman Mariusz Ciarka said the young man appeared to have mental health problems.

According to early police reports, the attacker gained access to the stage thanks to a media badge. And Polish broadcaster TVN said he shouted from the stage, saying he had been wrongly imprisoned by the previous Government. After the attack, Mr Szumowski took to Twitter to denounce the vile act. He wrote: "The attack on the Lord President Pawel Adamowicz is barbarism.

"In my thoughts and prayer I support the Lord President and the team fighting for his health and life." Other ministers condemned the action and came together to support Mr Adamowicz. And Poland's prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki tweeted: "The attack on life and health of Pawel Adamowicz is worthy of the highest condemnation."</s>Gdansk Mayor Pawel Adamowicz has died from stab wounds a day after he was attacked onstage by an ex-convict at a charity event, Poland's health minister said Monday.

Lukasz Szumowski said the doctors who were fighting to save Adamowicz's life informed him the mayor had died.

The Twitter account for the City of Gdansk also announced the death.

A surgeon earlier said Adamowicz, 53, suffered wounds to the heart, diaphragm and other internal organs.

"The fight for his life has been lost," Szumowski said.

The death 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, rallies against violence were being planned to take place across Poland in the evening. In Gdansk, the city flag was lowered to half-mast and a mass was planned for later in the day.

The right-wing ruling Law and Justice party faced accusations from critics that an atmosphere of hatred against Adamowicz and others liberal political opponents helped instigate the attack.

He became mayor in 1998. After leaving the Civic Platform party, he was re-elected to a sixth term as an independent candidate in the fall.

Donald Tusk, the European Council president from Poland, was among those expressing sorrow on social media: "Paweł Adamowicz, Mayor of Gdańsk, a man of Solidarity and freedom, a European, my good friend, has been murdered. May he rest in peace."

According to witnesses, the suspect shouted from the stage in Gdansk that he had been wrongly imprisoned under a previous national government led by Civic Platform.

Identified as a 27-year-old man, he had been previously convicted of involvement in bank robberies and served the 5½-year prison term in full.

Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said Monday he found no words to describe the "evil" of this "terrible event."

Deputy chief prosecutor Krzysztof Sierak said there are "doubts" as to the mental state of the attacker, who used a 14.5-centimetre knife.

Adamowicz collapsed in front of the audience during the "Lights to Heaven" fundraiser organized by the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity.

The attack triggered an outpouring of solidarity, with many people donating blood in Gdansk on Monday. Some said they were given time off work to do so.

The spokesperson for the ruling Law and Justice party, Beata Mazurek, said the attack should be "absolutely condemned by all, regardless of what side of the political spectrum they are on."

She insisted politicians in Poland need "greater responsibility for words, for deeds" because "there is no shortage of madmen on both sides" of the political scale.

Ruling authorities also sent a government plane to transport the mayor's wife, who had been travelling, from London back to Gdansk.

As mayor, he was a progressive voice, supporting sex education in schools, LGBT rights and tolerance for minorities. He showed solidarity with the Jewish community when Gdansk synagogue had its windows broken last year, strongly denouncing the vandalism.

Adamowicz also advocated bringing wounded Syrian children to Gdansk for medical treatment. The plan, however, was blocked by the Law and Justice government. After he took that stand, a far-right group, the All-Polish Youth, issued what a "political death notice" for Adamowicz.

The last politically motivated attack in Poland was in 2010 in Lodz when a man shouting he wanted to kill Law and Justice Leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski fatally shot an aide to one of the party's European Parliament lawmakers.

Kaczynski, at the time an Opposition leader, blamed the attack on an "atmosphere of hate" under Civic Platform.</s>WARSAW, Poland (AP) - The mayor of a city in Poland was stabbed Sunday while he was on stage during the finale of a large charity event and he was transported to a hospital, officials and Polish media reported.

Gdansk Mayor Pawel Adamowicz was attacked with a sharp tool during the "Light to Heaven" charity event, charity spokeswoman Magdalena Skorupka-Kaczmarek, told Polish news agency PAP.

She said there was no immediate word about the mayor's condition at the hospital. Adamowicz has been mayor of Gdansk, a Baltic port city, since 1998.

Polish broadcaster TVN24 said that around 8 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) a man rushed the stage and shouted something. It says the mayor was seen holding his belly.

TVN24 says a suspect was detained. Other Polish media reported that a knife was used in the attack.

FILE - In this Saturday, April 21, 2018 file photo, the mayor of Gdansk, Pawel Adamowicz addresses a rally organized in protest against a recent gathering by far-right groups in this Baltic coast city, in Gdansk, Poland. A private broadcaster in Poland is reporting that a man attacked 53-year-old Mayor Pawel Adamowicz while he was on stage on Sunday Jan. 13, 2019, for the finale of the charity event in the Baltic city. (AP Photo/Wojciech Strozyk, File)</s>WARSAW, Poland — The mayor of a city in Poland was stabbed Sunday while he was on stage during the finale of a large charity event and he was transported to a hospital, officials and Polish media reported.

Gdansk Mayor Pawel Adamowicz was attacked with a sharp tool during the “Light to Heaven” charity event, charity spokeswoman Magdalena Skorupka-Kaczmarek, told Polish news agency PAP.

She said there was no immediate word about the mayor’s condition at the hospital. Adamowicz has been mayor of Gdansk, a Baltic port city, since 1998.

Polish broadcaster TVN24 said that around 8 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) a man rushed the stage and shouted something. It says the mayor was seen holding his belly.

TVN24 says a suspect was detained. Other Polish media reported that a knife was used in the attack.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>The mayor of a city in Poland was in very serious condition after he was stabbed while on stage during the finale of a large charity event Sunday, Poland’s interior minister said.

Gdansk Mayor Pawel Adamowicz was attacked with a sharp tool during the fundraising event organized by a charity.

Interior Minister Joachim Brudzinski said Adamowicz was hospitalized in very serious condition. He called the stabbing “an act of inexplicable barbarity.” A suspect was arrested, Brudzinski said.

Polish broadcaster TVN reported the assailant shouted from the stage that he was imprisoned under the government of Civic Platform, a party to which the mayor formerly belonged, despite being innocent.

European Council President Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister who co-founded Civil Platform and is from Gdansk, wrote on Twitter: “Let’s all pray for Mayor Adamowicz. Pawel, we are with you.”

Adamowicz has been mayor of Gdansk, a Baltic port city, since 1998. He was part of the democratic opposition born in that city under the leadership of Lech Walesa during the 1980s.

As mayor, he is seen as a progressive voice and has supported tolerance for minorities. He showed solidarity with the Jewish community when the city’s synagogue had its windows broken last year, strongly denouncing the vandalism.

Other leaders also expressed their support for Adamowicz.

President Andrzej Duda said that while he and the mayor have had political differences, “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.”

TVN said that around 8 p.m. local time a man rushed the stage and shouted something. It said the mayor was seen holding his belly.

Radio Gdansk reported that Adamowicz was stabbed in the area of his heart, but did not cite its source.

Other Polish media reported that a knife was used in the attack.

The charity raises money for medical equipment Poland’s cash-strapped health care system has trouble providing.</s>The mayor of Polish port city Gdansk has been stabbed on stage while attending a large charity event.

He was immediately rushed to hospital, according to officials.

Mayor Pawel Adamowicz (pictured) was attacked with a sharp tool during the “Light to Heaven” charity event, spokeswoman Magdalena Skorupka-Kaczmarek, told Polish news agency PAP.

She said there was no immediate word about the mayor’s condition.

Mr Adamowicz has been mayor of Gdansk since 1998.

It was reported that a knife was used to attack the mayor.

Gdansk, about 3.5 hours from Poland’s capital Warsaw, is one of the country’s largest cities, with a population about 570,000.

More to come.</s>In Poland, Gdansk Mayor Dies After Being Stabbed At Charity Event

The mayor of Gdansk, Poland, has died after he was stabbed on stage at a charity concert on Sunday. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Anna Noryskiewicz about the rise of political violence in Poland.</s>BRUSSELS (WASHINGTON POST) - A prominent Polish opposition leader, Gdansk Mayor Pawel Adamowicz, died Monday (Jan 14) after being stabbed in the chest a day earlier at a charity concert, unsettling Polish politics at a tense and polarised moment in the nation's history.

The attack, which was broadly condemned across the political spectrum, stunned a country that has become deeply divided over attempts by the ruling Law and Justice party to increase its control over courts, media and other aspects of public life.

Polish authorities said the alleged assailant was a 27-year-old man with a history of crime and mental illness.

After he stabbed Adamowicz repeatedly on a stage in front of crowd of thousands, he declared himself to have been wrongfully imprisoned by the Poland's previous ruling party, which had supported Adamowicz.

The mayor of a Polish city famed for its independent-minded shipworkers who played a critical role in the fall of Communism, Adamowicz was known for his pro-migration views, support for gay rights and his efforts to fight attempts by Poland's ruling party to bolster its power over the country's judiciary.

Those issues cut across the grain in a country increasingly dominated by Law and Justice, even as national leaders moved quickly to support the mayor and his family.

"Hostility and violence has brought about the most tragic and painful result," wrote Polish President Andrej Duda on Twitter, a day after he wrote that "we usually disagree with Mayor Pawel Adamowicz in political views about how Poland should be governed, but today we are with him and his family unconditionally".

The Polish government sent a plane to London to bring home Adamowicz's wife, who was in Britain at the time of the attack.

Polish authorities, who identified the suspect only as Slawomir W., said he had been released from prison recently after serving more than five years for committing a string of bank robberies. They said he had used a press pass to get onto the stage and were investigating how he had obtained it.

Whether the attack was politically motivated was not immediately clear.

But Adamowicz's allies said it was difficult to separate the crime from a broader context of anger, hate speech and calls to violence that has been on the rise in Poland in the three years since Law and Justice took office.

Some said they feared the country could become even more split in the aftermath of the murder.

Last year, the far-right All-Polish Youth organisation issued fake death certificates for 11 opposition politicians, including Adamowicz, ahead of October local elections. Human rights advocates asked prosecutors to press charges, but authorities said the death certificates comprised legitimate political speech.

"In the upcoming days we need to do everything possible in order to save our humanity and in order to save what is good in our society," Polish Human Rights Commissioner Adam Bodnar said Monday.

Bodnar, who teamed with the mayor on different issues during Adamowicz's 20-year tenure leading Gdansk, said he was trying to be careful not to point fingers before the motivations behind the crime are known. But he said that it was hard not to think about the broader context.

"I am trying to be very responsible about what I am talking about," he said.

"If we talk about general trends, then yes, the government and especially the prosecutors' office was not doing enough to combat hate speech. When I see this death certificate with his face which was made by right-wing NGOs, what am I supposed to think?"

Even before Adamowicz was pronounced dead Monday afternoon, Polish civic groups had planned to hold rallies against hate speech Monday in Warsaw, Gdansk and elsewhere around the country, and they turned into impromptu memorials for the slain mayor. Duda, the Polish president, announced Monday that he would hold an anti-violence rally on Tuesday.

But some people questioned whether the government had done too little to fight calls for violence.

"You could easily imagine a person who would have done the same having been much more motivated by the context in which it happened," said Piotr Buras, the head of the Warsaw office of the European Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank.

"That's, for me, the bottom line, and that's why it is for me a warning that if you tolerate this level of hatred in the public debate, much can happen."
Paweł Adamowicz, the Mayor of Gdańsk, Poland, dies in hospital of stab wounds after an attack at a charity event the night before.