AKIPRESS.COM - The mayor of the Polish city of Gdansk has been seriously injured after being stabbed on stage at the country's biggest charity event, officials say, BBC reports.

Pawel Adamowicz, 53, was taken to hospital, where he is in a critical condition after five hours of surgery.

The 27-year-old suspect, who has a criminal record, has been detained.

He shouted that he had been wrongfully imprisoned under the previous government of the party which had supported Mr Adamowicz's re-election.

Mr Adamowicz suffered very serious abdominal injuries during the attack, said Dr Tomasz Stefaniak, director of health at the University Clinical Centre in Gdansk, early on Monday.

During a five-hour operation, the mayor was given 41 units of blood.