The Danish Prime Minister was beaten by a man on a Copenhagen street, her office said

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was “shocked” after being attacked on the street in Copenhagen, her office said.

The attack took place in a square in the city center, where a man walked up and hit her.

The attacker has been arrested.

European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen called it a “cowardly act that goes against everything we believe in and fight for in Europe.”

“Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was beaten by a man on Friday night at Kultorvet in Copenhagen. The man was later arrested. The Prime Minister was shocked by the incident,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

Police said they had arrested a man and were investigating the incident but declined to elaborate further.

There’s no word yet on the engine.

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

“A man was walking in the opposite direction and shoved her hard on the shoulder, causing her to fall to the side,” the two women told the newspaper.

They believe that even though it is a “strong push”, the prime minister has not yet touched the ground.

She then sat down at a cafe, they added.

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

Ms. Frederiksen, leader of the Danish Social Democratic Party, previously participated in a European election event with her party’s leading candidate Christel Schaldemose, Danish station TV2 reported.

The Social Democrats are the largest party in Denmark’s coalition government. They still lead the polls, but their support has dropped significantly in recent months.

Danish Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke said on X: “Mette was naturally shocked by the attack. I must say it shook all of us who were 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 occurred less than a month later Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot multiple times while greeting supporters. He survived and has since undergone surgery.

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

Soon after, she became became embroiled in a spat with then-President Donald Trump after she rejected his idea of ​​America buying Greenland.

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

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