Rutte deeply shocked by attack on Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen

Prime Minister Mark Rutte is "deeply shocked" by the attack on Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, a spokesman for him stated. Frederiksen was beaten by a man on the street in Copenhagen on Friday evening. The perpetrator was arrested.

On Friday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was beaten up by a man on the street in Copenhagen. The man was arrested, according to Danish media reports. Frederiksen was left shocked after the assault, her office stated.

The Danish police confirmed that the attack on the Prime Minister took place on Kultorvet Square in the city center.

Two witnesses told the local Danish newspaper BT, "A man came by in the opposite direction and gave her a hard shove on the shoulder, causing her to fall to the side." They said that Frederiksen did not fall and hit the ground after the attack and that she went to a nearby café to recover, according to the BBC.

However, it is unclear whether the Prime Minister was injured. Nothing is yet known about the motive for the attack either. Frederiksen was reportedly campaigning for the European elections shortly beforehand. The 46-year-old has been head of government since June 2019.

Danish ministers and other politicians expressed their disgust at the incident on X and described it as an attack on democracy.

Rutte is on a visit to Luxembourg. There, he and Prime Minister Luc Frieden expressed their deepest sympathy to the Danish Social Democratic Prime Minister.