Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, attacked on Friday by a man in Copenhagen, suffers from a “slight whiplash” and canceled her commitments on Saturday, her services said in a press release.
The suspect presented to a judge this Saturday
The 39-year-old suspect will be presented during the day to a judge in a Copenhagen court who will rule on his detention, Danish police announced on X. “After being attacked yesterday, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was transported to Rigshospitalet for a medical examination. The attack caused a slight whiplash,” according to a statement from her services, which specifies that she is “shaken by the incident” and has therefore canceled her program for that day. .
Police said that a “39-year-old man will be brought before a Copenhagen court for questioning” this Saturday, specifying that the hearing would take place around 11:00 GMT at the Frederiksberg court. She did not want to comment on the circumstances of the incident.
Two witnesses told Danish daily BT that they saw Mette Frederiksen arrive at the square as they sat near a fountain just before 6 p.m. local time (4 p.m. GMT). “A man came from the opposite direction and pushed her shoulder hard, which caused her to stumble to the side” but without causing her to fall, according to these witnesses.
Macron denounces “unacceptable” aggression
Several European leaders denounced this new attack, which comes three weeks after an assassination attempt in Slovakia against the head of government Robert Fico, wounded by bullets on May 15, while he was greeting his supporters at the end of a government meeting.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned what she called a “despicable act” against the Danish Prime Minister. French President Emmanuel Macron denounced on Saturday an “inadmissible” attack which he “strongly condemned”. Mette Frederiksen, 46, became Denmark’s youngest prime minister in 2019 and retained her post after her party’s victory in the 2022 legislative elections.