Danish PM Frederiksen suffered light whiplash after assault, her office says

[June 08, 2024]  COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has suffered a light whiplash injury after she was assaulted by a man in central Copenhagen on Friday, her office said in a statement on Saturday.

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen speaks on the day exiled Belarusian opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya receives the 'European of the Year' prize at the National Museum in Copenhagen, May 14, 2024. Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard/via REUTERS/File photo

"Apart from that, the Prime Minister is safe and sound, but she is shocked by the incident," it said, adding that Frederiksen had been taken to hospital for a check-up following the incident late on Friday.

All the Prime Minister's official events on Saturday have been cancelled, her office said.

Danish police said on Saturday a 39-year-old man would appear in front of a judge for preliminary questioning in relation to an assault on the prime minister.

Police said the man would be brought before the Copenhagen City Court for questioning at around 1 p.m. (1100 GMT), but declined to provide more detail.

Frederiksen, was able to walk away and had no outward signs of harm after the assault, Soren Kjergaard, who works as a barista in central Copenhagen, told Reuters after seeing her being escorted away by security.

Neither the police nor the prime minister's office said anything about the man's motive or whether he had carried a weapon.

The assault comes two days before Danes head to the polls in the European Union election.

A month ago, three German politicians suffered assaults ahead of European Parliament and district council elections and more attacks followed earlier this week.

Several EU leaders condemned the incident, which happened just three weeks after Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico was seriously injured in an assassination attempt.

"The attack on Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is an intolerable act of violence that represents an attack on the heart of democratic values," Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on X.

Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president said on X:

"I was so shocked at the news of you being assaulted tonight. I condemn this despicable act which goes against everything we believe and fight for in Europe. I wish you strength and courage - I know you have plenty of both."

(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Stine Jacobsen and Louise RasmussenEditing by Tomasz Janowski)

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