Mette Frederiksen gives first interview since the attack in Copenhagen

Frederiksen, 46, was attacked and beaten by a man in the Danish capital’s busy Kultorvet square on Friday night, just two days before Danes voted in European Parliament elections – the world’s biggest election outside India.

“It was very intimidating when someone crosses the last physical limit you have,” Frederiksen said on Tuesday. “It’s a shock and a surprise.”

Frederiksen did not give details of the attack, but said she had seen threats on social media and that shouting in public had increased “especially after the war in the Middle East.”

Danish police arrested a 39-year-old Pole for the attack and said his actions were not politically motivated. He will remain in custody until June 20, police said during the investigation.

The man, whose identity has not been publicly disclosed, has since said Frederiksen was “a really good prime minister,” the Associated Press reported. Investigators believe the suspect was drunk and under the influence of drugs at the time of the attack.

The attack on Frederiksen, the latest violent incident during the European elections, sparked fierce criticism at home and abroad.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the attack as “despicable” and said it “goes against everything we believe in and fight for in Europe”.

In May, a gunman shot Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico several times, seriously wounding him. In the same month, German Social Democrat Matthias Ecke of the European Parliament was hit by a man while putting up election posters in Dresden. He had to undergo surgery.

In the interview, Frederiksen expressed concern about the aggression that politicians face in society. “I would prefer a Denmark where the prime minister can ride his bike to work without any worries,” she said. “As a human being, it feels like an attack to me. But I have no doubt that the prime minister has been hit,” she said.

Frederiksen, who became the youngest prime minister in Denmark’s history in 2019 at the age of 41, said the attack felt like “some kind of attack on all of us”.

Sammy Westfall contributed to this report