Copenhagen: Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was assaulted by a man on a square in the capital of Copenhagen on Friday, her office said.
Copenhagen police confirmed that one person had been arrested following the assault and an investigation had been launched.
The prime minister was said to be “shocked”, but a witness said she was able to walk away and had no outward signs of harm.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.Credit: AP
“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,” her office said in a statement, without giving further detail.
Denmark’s national security and intelligence service confirmed the incident but declined to provide more detail.
“She seemed a little stressed,” Soren Kjergaard, who works as a barista on the square, told Reuters after seeing the prime minister being escorted away by security following the assault.
Frederiksen has recently been campaigning with her party ahead of the European Parliament elections on Sunday. The elections have been dominated by a rise in the hard-Right.
News of the assault was received with shock and condemnation by politicians across the political spectrum inside the small Scandinavian country and abroad.
Danish Minister of Environment Magnus Heunicke said on X: “Mette is naturally shocked by the attack. I must say that it shakes all of us who are close to her.”
Source Agencies
