Anti-gay attacker in murder probe

Berkane is said to hate politicians and gay people

A homophobic man suspected of stabbing the mayor of Paris has been placed under formal investigation for attempted murder.

Delanoe: Ordered staff to continue the party

Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, who is openly gay, is still under observation in intensive care after being stabbed in the stomach at a social event early on Sunday.

His suspected attacker, named as 39-year-old Azedine Berkane, has told police he does not like gay people or politicians.

He spent the day on Monday undergoing psychiatric examination, as investigators sought to piece together what led to the attack.

Mr Delanoe, 52, was attacked at about 0230 local time (1230GMT) at an all-night party being staged as part of a series of cultural events at Paris City Hall.

Organs damaged

He needed emergency surgery, and is believed to have lost a lot of blood.

Doctors have revealed that four of his internal organs were damaged, but say his condition is satisfactory, in the light of the injuries he received.

He did not like homosexuals, and did not care who knew it

Neighbour, quoted in Le Monde

Mr Berkane had been hospitalised for psychiatric treatment at least twice, sources close to the case said.

They described him as "very confused" adding that he felt persecuted by a Satanic cult.

He is also said to have a number of previous arrests for offences of theft and drug-dealing, and to have been a regular smoker of hashish.

Investigators say that he told them his decision to attack Mr Delanoe was unpremeditated.

Newspapers have described Mr Berkane as an unemployed loner, born to Algerian parents, who lives in the northern Paris suburb of Bobigny.

A neighbour was quoted in the Le Monde newspaper as saying: "He did not like homosexuals, and did not care who knew it."

'He knifed me'

Shocked aides watched in horror as the man lunged at Mr Delanoe as he mingled with guests at the Nuit Blanche (Sleepless Night) party.

"We didn't see him coming," the mayor's communications director, Anne-Sylvie Schneider, was quoting as saying in the Liberation newspaper.

"I thought he was punching him (the mayor) in the stomach ... (but) Bertrand Delanoe said, 'He knifed me'."

Mr Delanoe is reported to have remained conscious throughout the incident, ordering his staff to continue the party as planned until 0800.

The mayor was taken to hospital amid tight security

Questions were being raised about how the armed attacker was able to get inside the city hall, but the mayor's staff said he had wanted a party open to all.

City hall was not a "fortified castle hiding behind sentinels," said the deputy mayor.

"Bertrand Delanoe's choice was to have an open house."

The attack, which has left many in the city shocked, follows an attempt on Bastille Day in July to assassinate President Chirac.

Paris was also rocked in March when a man with a history of psychiatric problems shot and killed eight councillors at a meeting in the suburb of Nanterre.

Mr Delanoe publicly revealed his homosexuality in a television interview in 1998.

In March 2001 Paris voters chose him as their first left-wing mayor in 130 years, and after the collapse of Lionel Jospin's government, he is now one of France's highest-profile socialists.

He has undertaken a number of colourful city initiatives, including turning parts of the River Seine banks into a beach for the summer.