The electoral campaign for the European elections ends with a serious episode of violence against Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who was punched this evening on the street in Copenhagen. A man, whose identity has not yet been disclosed, attacked her and was immediately arrested.
The attack is the latest in a series of political violence, the most serious that of May 15 against Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, who fought between life and death after being shot several times. The attack took place in the Kultorvet market square at the end of a day in which the prime minister had also supported the Social Democratic EU candidate Christel Schaldemose.
The 46-year-old prime minister has been at the helm of the Danish Social Democratic Party and at the head of a centre-left coalition since June 2019.
“I’m shocked,” were her first words while the police are still investigating the cause of the attack. The president of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola expressed immediate solidarity, describing the attack as “disgusting”.
Prime Minister Charles Michel was also “outraged”. The Danish government, but also its opponents, have rallied around their leader.
“Every attack against an elected politician is an attack on our entire democracy,” wrote Danish Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt. His defense colleague Troels Lund Poulsen echoed him: «Denmark is not like that. Let’s not attack our prime minister.”
Fellow Finnish and Swedish prime ministers also reacted to what happened, saying they were also “shocked”.
(Unioneonline)
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