Danish PM suffers light whiplash injury after assault, her office says

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has suffered a light whiplash injury after she was assaulted by a man in central Copenhagen, her office said in a statement.

"Apart from that, the Prime Minister is safe and sound, but she is shocked by the incident," it said on Saturday, 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 pm (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 news agency 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.

Frederiksen has been campaigning with the Social Democrats' EU lead candidate, Christel Schaldemose. Media reports said the attack was not linked to a campaign event.

News of the assault was received with shock and condemnation by politicians across the political spectrum inside the Scandinavian country and abroad.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said that "an attack on a democratically elected leader is also an attack on our democracy," while Charles Michel, president of the European Council, condemned on X what he called a "cowardly act of aggression."

"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."

Violence against politicians has become a theme in the runup to the EU elections.

In May, a candidate from Germany's centre-left Social Democrats was beaten and seriously injured while campaigning for a seat in the European Parliament.

In Slovakia, the election campaign was overshadowed by an attempt to assassinate populist Prime Minister Robert Fico on May 15, sending shockwaves through the nation of 5.4 million and reverberating throughout Europe.