Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was attacked by a man in Copenhagen, the Danish Press Agency reported on Friday Ritzau.
Copenhagen police confirmed on the X platform that one person had been arrested in this case and that an investigation was underway.
There was no immediate information specifying how the assault occurred, or whether Mme Frederiksen was injured. The prime minister’s office told Danish public broadcaster DR that it was “shocked” by the incident.
The reports do not provide further details and it is unclear in what context the attack occurred, but it comes just ahead of European Union parliamentary elections taking place on Sunday.
Mme Frederiksen campaigned with the Social Democrats’ lead candidate in the European elections, Christel Schaldemose. According to media reports, the attack was not linked to a campaign event.
News of the attack aroused shock and indignation among politicians from all political sides in Denmark and abroad.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson declared that “an attack on a democratically elected leader is also an attack on our democracy”, while Charles Michel, President of the European Council, condemned what he called “cowardly act of aggression”.
Violence against political figures has become a theme in the run-up to the European elections. In May, a candidate from Germany’s center-left Social Democratic party was beaten and seriously injured while campaigning for a seat in the European Parliament.
In Slovakia, the electoral campaign was overshadowed by the assassination attempt on populist Prime Minister Robert Fico on May 15, causing shock waves in this country of 5.4 million inhabitants and reverberating throughout Europe.