Rushdie once complained of too much security around him: Report

New York, August 13

Salman Rushdie, who was attacked and stabbed on stage at a literary event here, has 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 during an event in New York.

In 2001, Rushdie publicly complained about having too much security around him, The New York Post reported.

While attending the Prague Writers’ Festival, 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.”

“I spent a great deal of time before I came here saying that I really didn’t want that. So I was very surprised to arrive here and discover a really quite substantial operation because it felt like being in a time warp that I had gone back in time several years,” he was quoted as saying. Following the attack on Friday, questions were raised about the security precautions — or lack thereof — at the Chautauqua Institution, New York. The institution’s leadership had rejected recommendations for basic security measures. — PTI

‘It embarrassed him’

While attending the Prague Writers’ Festival, Rushdie 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.”