'We're here for you': Even as safety concerns loom, hundreds of writers come out in Salman Rushdie support

Participants at the event, which was overseen by police wearing tactical gear and counterterrorism officers, expressed concern for both themselves and other writers in the wake of the incident.

"We're all in danger. And some of us are more overtly in danger than the rest" said Iranian-American novelist Roya Hakakian.

Although the death sentence, or fatwa, that Iran imposed on Rushdie was among the most widely known threats, many authors claim that harassment and incitement to violence have become commonplace for writers.

Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN, a nonprofit organisation that defends free speech and hosted the event said, "I hope this is a wake-up call that people like Salman, who are fearless, who write things as they see them, who are not afraid to speak the truth as they view it, really are in danger." 

"Not even a blade to the throat could stifle the voice of Salman Rushdie," said Nossel.

"Salman spoke for scores of writers who've been persecuted and tormented, and did not want their ordeals to subsume their identities or to drown out their imaginations."

From the top of the steps leading to the main library branch off Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, Irish novelist Colum McCann, British author Hari Kunzru, and others read excerpts from Rushdie's novels.

More than a dozen renowned authors, including Rushdie's friends and colleagues, spoke at the occasion, which, according to the event's organisers, the novelist was invited to attend from a hospital bed.

About 400 people gathered below, at a safe distance set by the organisers, to listen, and when the event was over, they chanted "Stand with Salman."

The attendance on Friday, according to author and historian Amanda Foreman, "shows people are not afraid."

She told AFP, "No matter what, we and they, we are all willing to stand up for what we are believing.

Raymond Lotta, an author and representative for the Harlem bookstore Revolution Books, told AFP that Rushdie's stabbing was "an attack on critical thinking, on dissent, on creativity."

Before reading a line from Rushdie's "Quichotte," novelist Kiran Desai addressed the crowd and said, "Dearest Salman, and dearest family of Salman, this past week so many of us realized we'd been counting on you to hold up the sky."

"I hope you know that you can count on us too. We're here for you, and we're here for the long haul."

Rushdie, 75, was stabbed multiple times in the neck and abdomen one week ago as he was about to talk on on artistic freedom as part of a lecture series at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York.

The author underwent emergency surgery, and while his condition is still critical, he is showing signs of recovery and is no longer in need of breathing aid.

Rushdie's alleged attacker, 24-year-old New Jersey resident Hadi Matar, was taken into detention after being wrestled to the ground by staff and attendees ofthe event.

On Thursday, Matar responded to a grand jury indictment and entered a not-guilty plea to the charges of attempted murder and assault.