Frederiksen, 46, was assaulted by a person who hit her Friday night on Kultorvet, a busy sq. within the Danish capital, simply two days earlier than Danes voted within the European Parliament elections — the world’s largest election outdoors India.
“It was very intimidating when somebody crosses the final bodily restrict you may have,” Frederiksen mentioned Tuesday. “There may be some shock and shock in that.”
Frederiksen didn’t present particulars concerning the assault however mentioned she had seen threats on social media and that shouting in public had worsened “particularly after the conflict within the Center East.”
Danish police arrested a 39-year-old Polish man over the assault and mentioned they didn’t contemplate his actions to be politically motivated. He can be held in custody till June 20, police mentioned amid the investigation.
The person, who has not been publicly recognized, has since mentioned that Frederiksen was “a very good prime minister,” the Related Press reported. Investigators are contemplating that the suspect was intoxicated and below the affect of medicine on the time of the assault.
The assault on Frederiksen, the newest incident of violence in the course of the European election, sparked condemnation at dwelling and overseas.
E.U. Fee President Ursula von der Leyen described the assault as “despicable” and mentioned it “goes in opposition to every part we imagine and struggle for in Europe.”
In Might, a gunman shot Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico a number of occasions, gravely injuring the chief. That very same month, German social democrat Matthias Ecke of the European Parliament was hit by a person whereas placing up marketing campaign posters in Dresden, forcing him to bear surgical procedure.
Frederiksen expressed concern in the course of the interview concerning the aggression politicians face in society. “I’d quite have a Denmark the place the prime minister can bicycle to work with out worrying,” she mentioned. “As a human being, it seems like an assault on me. However I’ve little question that it was the prime minister that was hit,” she mentioned.
Frederiksen who in 2019 turned the youngest prime minister in Denmark’s historical past at age 41, mentioned the assault felt like “a type of assault on all of us.”
Sammy Westfall contributed to this report
