Attack on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Copenhagen street

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was “shocked” after she was beaten by a man at the Kultorvet in Copenhagen on Friday evening, the Prime Minister’s office told the Ritzau news agency.

A 39-year-old man was arrested at the scene and will appear for a constitutional hearing at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Copenhagen police said on X.

Two eyewitnesses told BT that they saw a man forcefully shove Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Friday evening as she walked from Nørreport towards Strøget.

Not a word was exchanged between the Prime Minister and the attacker, they add.

“A man came towards her and gave her a strong push on the shoulder, causing her to fall to the side,” said 18-year-old Marie Adrian and 17-year-old Anna Ravn.

The Prime Minister then sat down at a table in a nearby café, they told BT.

The two eyewitnesses describe the attacker as tall, very slim and with relatively long, medium-blonde hair.

The information was not confirmed by the Prime Minister’s Office.

Neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor Copenhagen Police made any comment on the case and declined to answer questions on Saturday morning.

Earlier in the evening, Mette Frederiksen campaigned with the Social Democrats’ EU top candidate, Christel Schaldemose, in the run-up to the EU parliamentary elections on Sunday.

Schaldemose told Ritzau that they had parted ways at 5:30 p.m. and that Frederiksen had not been in Kultorvet in connection with the campaign when she was hit.

Many questions about the attack remain unanswered, including where on her body Frederiksen was hit, the circumstances, the motive of the attack and where her safety was ensured.

Media outlets around the world have reported on the attack, including BBC, Le Monde, Al Jazeera and The New York Times.

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo responded to X by saying he was “deeply shocked” by the attack on his “colleague and friend”.

“I strongly condemn any form of violence against democratically elected leaders of our free society. My thoughts are with you and I wish you strength in this difficult time,” he wrote.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola also expressed their thoughts on X to Frederiksen.

“An attack on a democratically elected politician is also an attack on our democracy. Tonight my thoughts and those of my family are with her,” Kritersson wrote.

Metsola posted: “Shocking attack on the Danish Prime Minister. Violence has no place in politics. My full support for you, Mette!”