Paris mayor recovering from attack
Sunday, October 6, 2002 Posted: 2:04 PM EDT (1804 GMT)
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PARIS, France (CNN) -- Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe is recovering in hospital after being stabbed by an attacker as he left a concert in City Hall.
Delanoe, 52, was rushed by ambulance to the French capital's Pitie-Salpetriere hospital after an attacker lunged at him with a knife and slashed him during an all-night party at the elegant Hotel de Ville, officials told The Associated Press.
Delanoe was conscious after the man knifed him in his abdomen. The mayor urged his assistant to make sure the "Nuit Blanche," or "Sleepless Night" celebrations continued after the incident.
Eyewitnesses described the 39-year-old attacker as appearing deranged. Police are questioning the man they say has a criminal record and who is known to them.
The socialist mayor underwent three hours of surgery and was transferred to a postoperative recovery room on Sunday morning.
Segolene Royal, a former Socialist family minister who visited the mayor at the hospital, said he suffered injuries to several organs and would be in hospital for at least eight days
About 2,000 people were gathered at the venue for a rock concert when the attack happened about 2:30 a.m. (0023 GMT).
Delanoe was surrounded by a large entourage at the time of the attack and was on his way to check security in the city, the deputy mayor said.
Paris' chief of police and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy -- whose main concern has been improving security across France -- has travelled to the hospital to check on the mayor.
Delanoe, Paris' first socialist mayor, has made many changes across the city since he was elected last year. He created "Nuit Blanche," the all-night party where all of Paris' major attractions stay open until dawn.
Many Parisians approved of his decision to create a beach along the riverside of the Seine, but traffic corridors he had set up across the city to allow express treatment for buses and bicycles have not been as popular.
The attack comes three months after a 25-year-old man fired a gun during a Bastille Day celebration in Paris, in an alleged attempt to assassinate French President Jacques Chirac, who was nearly 100 yards away at the time.
Chirac was not injured in the attack, and the man was detained and committed to a psychiatric ward.
In March, a gunman opened fire on a late-night city council meeting in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, killing eight people and injuring more than a dozen others.
