Just two days before the European Parliament elections in Denmark, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was attacked by a man on the streets of the capital, Copenhagen.
The Prime Minister’s office released a statement saying that Frederiksen was assaulted at a square near her official residence, expressing shock over the incident.
The Danish police announced on the social media platform X that they have arrested a man in connection with the attack and are investigating the matter but have refused to provide further details.
Local media quoted eyewitnesses as saying that a man approached the Prime Minister from the opposite direction and forcefully pushed her shoulder, causing her to lean to one side but not fall to the ground. Despite being “attacked and struck,” there were no apparent injuries to the Prime Minister.
Danish Minister of the Environment, Magnus Heunicke, stated on X platform, “Mette is naturally shocked by this attack. I must say, this has shaken all of us who are close to her.”
European Council President Charles Michel, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, among other officials, have condemned the attack.
Recent incidents of attacks on politicians across Europe have heightened tensions. Last month, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot, and Matthias Ecke, a German Social Democratic EU lawmaker, was assaulted and seriously injured by four unidentified men.
At 46 years old, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen became the youngest Prime Minister in Denmark’s history when she took office in 2019 after assuming leadership of the center-left Social Democratic Party four years earlier.
The Social Democratic Party, led by her, is the largest party in the Danish coalition government. Although the party still leads in opinion polls, its support has significantly declined in recent months.