After the attack, the Danish Prime Minister suffers mild whiplash. The attacker was remanded in custody.
According to her office, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen suffers mild whiplash. Otherwise it is fine. Frederiksen was attacked by a man in central Copenhagen on Friday night.
Frederiksen was taken to a hospital for examination shortly after the attack. Although she was unharmed, the incident took a heavy toll on her, his office said. I had canceled all appointments for a day to rest.
The Police confirmed on Friday on the social network X that “an incident” had occurred with Prime Minister Frederiksen and that a 39-year-old man had been arrested.
The suspect appeared on Saturday afternoon for the detention hearing at the Copenhagen District Court in Frederiksberg.
Citing details of the court hearing, Danish public broadcaster ‘DR’ reported that the man is a Polish citizen living in Denmark since 2019.
A judge ordered preventive detention until June 20. The man is accused of violence against a person in the public sector.
According to ‘DR’, police said he was “probably under the influence of drugs and drunk” at the time of the incident, which occurred shortly before 6 pm local time on Friday.
Details of the altercation and the attack against the prime minister
Details of the incident are still unclear, but local media reported that the man apparently approached by force and Frederiksen and pushed her violently while walking through Kultorvet, one of the most important squares in Copenhagen. According to the first investigations, the Police assume that the suspect hit the prime minister on the upper right arm with a closed fist.
The judge told the court hearing that everything indicated that the man knew that the person he had attacked was the Danish prime minister.
Initially, the Police concluded that the man could hold a grudge against Frederiksen. However, the suspect disputed this assessment at Saturday’s court hearing, instead praising her as “a very good prime minister,” ‘DR’ reported. The Police will continue to investigate the motive for the man’s act.
Two witnesses, Anna Ravn and Marie Adrian, told BT newspaper that a man approached the prime minister and then “pushed her by the shoulder to push her aside.” They emphasized that she had not fallen.
Another witness, Kasper Jørgensen, told the tabloid ‘Ekstra Bladet’ that a well-dressed man who looked like he belonged to the protection unit de Frederiksen y a police officer knocked down the attacker.
Condemnation of the attack
He NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenbergsaid he was shocked to learn what happened to Frederiksen, whom he called a friend.
“NATO allies stand together to protect our values, freedom, democracy and the rule of law,” Stoltenberg wrote Saturday on the X social media platform.
He swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, said that “an attack on a democratically elected politician is also an attack on our democracy.” He the Finnish prime minister, Petteri Orposaid it strongly condemned “all forms of violence against the democratically elected leaders of our free societies.”
