Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was allegedly attacked in Copenhagen Square on Friday evening, leaving her “shocked by the incident”, her office said in a statement. The incident comes at a time when memories of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s assassination attempt still stay fresh. Fico was shot four times at close range as he greeted supporters after a government meeting in the central town of Handlova. He later survived the attack.
Two witnesses present at Copenhagen Square told local newspaper BT that they had seen Frederiksen arrive at the square while they were sitting by a nearby fountain. “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 added that while it was a “strong push”, Frederiksen did not hit the ground.
The witnesses added that the attacker was tall and slim and that he had tried to flee the scene but was apprehended soon. The man has now been arrested. Another witness, Kasper Jorgensen, told newspaper Ekstra Bladet that he had seen the man after he was tackled to the ground, saying that one of what he presumed to be part of the security service had put a knee on the man’s back. “They had pacified him, and as he lay there, he looked confused and a little dazed,” Jorgensen told the newspaper.
Meanwhile, PM Frederiksen was taken to a nearby cafe after the attack. EU chief Charles Michel and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola on Friday slammed the attack on Frederiksen. Metsola urged the Danish head of government to “keep strong”, while adding in a post on X that “violence has no place in politics”. Michel in turn said he was “outraged by the assault”. “I strongly condemn this cowardly act of aggression,” the European Council president said in a separate post to X.
