A man has been charged in connection with an attack on the Danish prime minister

03 July 2024 , 20:12

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A man has been charged in connection with an attack on the Danish prime minister

Suspect to plead not guilty after Mette Frederiksen assaulted in a Copenhagen square last month

A Polish man has been charged with assault over last month’s attack on the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, in a Copenhagen square.

A man walked up to Frederiksen in a square in central Copenhagen in the late afternoon on 7 June and punched her on her right upper arm. The prime minister suffered minor whiplash but was otherwise unharmed.

Henrik Karl Nielsen, a lawyer for the suspect, who has not been named, told the Associated Press in an email that he would plead not guilty. He said the suspect had no recollection of the episode.

Frederiksen was taken to a hospital for a check-up shortly after the attack, and she canceled her work programme for the following days, including her appearance at events connected to the European parliament elections.

The man was charged with assault against a civil servant or a person carrying out a public duty, Nielsen said. If found guilty, he faces fines or up to eight years in jail. A trial has been set for 6-7 August in Copenhagen.

Danish media have said the attacker was probably under the influence of drugs and intoxicated at the time of the incident.

Thomas Brown