Under the watch of counterterrorism officers and police in tactical gear, hundreds of people gathered in front of the New York Public Library on Friday to show support for Salman Rushdie, the author stabbed multiple times at a literary event a week ago.
Irish novelist Colum McCann, British writer Hari Kunzru and others read passages from Rushdie's works from the top of the flagship library branch's steps off Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. Below, at a distance enforced by organizers, a crowd of about 400 people gathered to listen, breaking out into a chant of "Stand with Salman" when the event concluded.
