Salman Rushdie, who was attacked and stabbed on stage at a literary event here, had previously complained about having too much security around him, according to a media report on Saturday. The Mumbai-born writer, who faced Islamist death threats for years after writing The Satanic Verses, was stabbed by a 24-year-old New Jersey resident identified as Hadi Matar on stage on Friday, while he was being introduced at the event of the Chautauqua Institution in New York.  A bloodied Rushdie was airlifted from a field adjacent to the venue to a hospital in Pennsylvania where the 75-year-old writer underwent surgery.

In 2001, Rushdie publicly complained about having too much security around him, The New York Post reported. He told reporters, “To be here and to find a large security operation around me has actually felt a little embarrassing... I thought it was really unnecessary and kind of excessive and was certainly not arranged at my request.” Following the attack on Friday, questions were raised about the security precautions at the host institution.