A man attacked the Danish Prime Minister, social democrat Mette Frederiksen, this Friday in central Copenhagen. The aggressor has already been arrested. The leader is “shocked”, but Danish authorities have not provided more information about Frederiksen's condition.
“Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was beaten in the Kultorvet in Copenhagen on Friday evening by a man who was later arrested. “The Prime Minister is shocked by the incident,” her office said in a statement, without providing further details. Copenhagen police and Denmark's national security and intelligence agency confirmed the incident to Reuters but declined to provide further details.
“She seemed a bit stressed,” Soren Kjergaard, who works as a waiter in the square, told Reuters after watching security escort the prime minister after the attack.
Danish Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke told X: “Mette is obviously shocked by the attack. I have to say it shocks all of us who are close to her.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has condemned the “despicable” attack. “It goes against everything we believe in and fight for in Europe. I wish you strength and courage; I know you have both in abundance,” he wrote on the same social network.
Other leaders, such as the government's president, Pedro Sánchez, have also expressed their support for the Danish leader. “The attack he suffered tonight is an attack against all of us who believe in a Europe of freedom, tolerance and peace,” Sánchez said.
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“Denmark is not like that. We do not attack our prime ministers. I send my best thoughts to Mette,” the Vice President and Minister of Defense, the liberal Troels Lund Poulsen, also published in X. The leaders of the main Danish parties and several ministers have also responded on social networks by condemning the events and send messages of support to Frederiksen.
Mette Frederiksen, 46, has been leader of government since June 2019: the first term, at the head of a center-left coalition; and from December 2022, at the head of a centrist executive with two right-wing forces.
The incident is in line with other recent attacks on politicians. The worst has happened the attempted assassination of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, on May 15 during a shooting that left him between life and death. This assassination attempt and several attacks on politicians of different stripes in countries such as Germany They have set off all the alarm signals in the EU fearing a wave of violence due to the increase in hate speech, populism and social division.
The attack on Frederiksen comes as EU member states have started voting in important elections, in which far-right formations could achieve a historic result. The Social Democratic Party led by Frederiksen aims to win the elections in Denmark they are celebrated on Sundays.