Danish PM attacked by man in Copenhagen

Denmark PM Mette Frederiksen has been left “shocked” after being attacked in the street in Copenhagen, her office says.

The assault took place on a square in the centre of the city where a man walked up to her and hit her.

The attacker has been arrested.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen called it a “despicable act, which goes against everything we believe in and fight for in Europe”.

“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,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement without giving further detail.

Police said they had arrested a man and were investigating the incident, but declined to say more.

There is no word on a motive yet.

Two witnesses, Marie Adrian and Anna Ravn, told local newspaper BT that they had seen the attack.

“A man came by in the opposite direction and gave her a hard shove on the shoulder, causing her to fall to the side,” the two women told the newspaper.

They said that while it was a “strong push” the prime minister did not hit the ground.

She then sat down at a café, they added.

The attack comes two days before Denmark votes in the EU election.

Ms Frederiksen, leader of Denmark’s Social Democrats, had earlier taken part in a European election event with her party’s lead candidate Christel Schaldemose, Denmark’s TV2 reports.

The Social Democrats are the biggest party in Denmark’s coalition government. They still lead the polls, but their support has fallen back considerably in recent months.

Danish Environment Minister 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.”

EU chief Charles Michel said on X that he was “outraged”.

“I strongly condemn this cowardly act of aggression,” he said.

The attack comes less than a month after Slovak PM Robert Fico was shot several times as he greeted supporters. He survived and has since undergone surgery.

Ms Frederiksen, 46, became prime minister in 2019 after taking over as leader of the centre-left Social Democrats four years earlier. This made her the youngest prime minister in Danish history.

Soon after, she became embroiled in a spat with then-President Donald Trump after she rebuffed his idea of the US buying Greenland.

Mr Trump called her “nasty” after she dismissed the suggestion of such a land deal as “absurd”.

In 2022, Ms Frederiksen was heavily criticised by a commission investigating her government’s decision to cull millions of mink during the Covid pandemic.