A man was arrested after attacking Denmark's prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, in central Copenhagen on Friday. It is unclear whether Frederiksen was injured in the attack. The prime minister's office said that Frederiksen was "shocked by the incident" but did not give additional details.
Police in Copenhagen said that the incident took place at Kultorvet, a pedestrian square in the heart of the city. A barista working in the square at the time of the attack said that the prime minister appeared "stressed" as she walked away, surrounded by security, following the alarming assault. It comes just two days before the polls open in Denmark for the European Union elections.
Sudden Attack
"Prime minister Mette Frederiksen was hit by a man Friday evening on Kultorvet in Copenhagen. The man was subsequently arrested," the statement said.
"We have made an arrest in the case, which we are now investigating. We currently have no further comments or observations on the matter," the police said on X.
Her office announced: "Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was beaten on Friday evening at Kultorvet in Copenhagen by a man who was subsequently arrested.
"The Prime Minister is shocked by the incident."
Two shocked witnesses who saw the attack unfold told the local newspaper BT that it was a "hard shove."
Marie Adrian and Anna Ravn said: "A man came by in the opposite direction and gave her a hard shove on the shoulder, causing her to fall to the side."
Several Danish politicians expressed their worry about the incident.
"Mette is naturally shocked by the assault," Magnus Heunicke, Denmark's minister for the environment, wrote on X. "I must say, it shakes all of us who are close to her."
Frederiksen, 46, has been the prime minister since 2019. She leads the center-left Social Democrats.
Strange Timing
The attack on Frederiksen comes as 450 million citizens across the EU's 27 member states are heading to the polls to elect over 700 members of the European Parliament.
It also comes shortly after Slovakia's prime minister, Robert Fico, survived an assassination attempt, amid a surge of increasing low-level political violence and threats against candidates, mayors, and elected officials in France, Germany, and other nations.
The pro-Putin prime minister, aged 59, was shot in a violent attack by a 71-year-old man before being quickly airlifted to the hospital for emergency surgery.
Latvia's Prime Minister, Evika Silina, called the attack on Frederiksen "outrageous."
Silina said on X: "Deeply shocked by the outrageous attack on my colleague and friend, Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen.
"All our thoughts are with you and your loved ones. Wishing you a speedy recovery!"
EU chief Charles Michel described the attack as "appalling".
