Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was examined in hospital on Friday evening after the attack in Copenhagen. “The impact caused minor whiplash,” her office said.
She was otherwise in good condition, but was shaken by the incident. Frederiksen’s participation in several events was cancelled.
The 46-year-old was physically attacked by a man in central Copenhagen on Friday. The police have arrested a 39-year-old man. The background to the crime was initially unclear. Neither police nor the prime minister’s office have yet commented on the attacker’s intentions – or whether he was armed.
The number of attacks on politicians has increased in recent years. In Germany alone, police recorded more than 2,700 attacks on elected officials. During the election campaign for the EU Parliament there were several attacks on politicians of different stripes. Well-known examples from the recent past include the assassination attempt on Cologne mayor Henriette Reker in October 2015 and the murder of CDU politician Walter Lübcke five years ago.
Attacks are rare in Austria
In Slovakia, Prime Minister Robert Fico was briefly in danger of dying after a knife attack in May. Fortunately, physical attacks on politicians are rare in Austria. The best-known incidents in 2008 were the poisoned chocolate for the mayor of Spitz, Hannes Hirtzberger, who has since been in a vegetative state, and the series of letter bombs by Franz Fuchs from the 1990s, in which, among others, the then mayor of Vienna, Helmut Zilk, was seriously injured , and the murder of Viennese city councilor Heinz Nittel by Islamist terrorists in 1981.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
