A Polish man accused of attacking Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in the centre of Copenhagen in early June will appear in court in Denmark on Tuesday and will be charged with assaulting a public official, Euractiv reports.
Frederiksen suffered a minor neck injury in the incident, which occurred two days before the European Parliament elections, and was forced to cancel several meetings after warning of increased aggression in public.
The attack in Denmark comes three weeks after Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico was seriously injured in an assassination attempt and just over a month before the shooting of US presidential contender Donald Trump.
The 39-year-old man accused of stabbing Frederiksen said in preliminary questioning that he was not guilty of the offence. According to police, he has a poor recollection of the episode due to heavy intoxication.
Investigators said he was under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time and presumably did not know that the victim was the Danish prime minister. Danish media reported that the suspect had been living in Denmark for several years.
Frederiksen, who was accompanied by security guards, suffered minor whiplash in the attack, which took place in a square in the centre of Copenhagen, her office said.
Eyewitnesses told Reuters that she was able to walk away from the incident without assistance.
In a television interview a few days later, Frederiksen said she had noticed a change in public opinion in recent years, with a harsh tone on social media, “a lot of shouting in public, people behaving very, very aggressively.”
Copenhagen court officials said the verdict in the case could come as early as Wednesday. The suspect’s lawyer was unavailable for comment and the prosecutor declined to comment.
