Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is “shocked” after being struck by a man on Kultorvet in Copenhagen on Friday evening, the Prime Minister’s Office told news agency Ritzau.

A 39-year-old man was apprehended at the scene and will appear in a constitutional hearing on Saturday at 13:00, Copenhagen Police states on X. 

Two eyewitnesses told BT that they saw a man give Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen a strong push on Friday evening, as she walked from Nørreport towards Strøget.

No words were exchanged between the Prime Minister and the assailant, they add.

“A man came by in the opposite direction, and he gave her a hard push on the shoulder, so that she fell to the side,” said 18-year-old Marie Adrian and 17-year-old Anna Ravn.

The Prime Minister subsequently sat down at a table in a cafe nearby, they tell BT.

The two eyewitnesses describe the assailant as tall, very slim and with relatively long and medium blond hair.

The information has not been confirmed by the Prime Minister’s Office.

Neither the Prime Minister’s Office, nor Copenhagen Police have offered any comments on the case, and declined to answer questions on Saturday morning.

Mette Frederiksen had been campaigning with the Social Democrats’ EU lead candidate, Christel Schaldemose, ahead of the EU parliamentary elections on Sunday, earlier that evening.

Schaldemose told Ritzau that they had parted ways at 1730, and that Frederiksen had not been at Kultorvet in connection with the campaigning when she was hit.

Many questions remain unanswered about the attack, including where on her body Frederiksen was hit, the circumstances, the motive of the attack, and where her security was.

Media the world over have reported the assault, including BBC, Le Monde, Al Jazeera and The New York Times.

The Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo responded on X that he is “deeply shocked” by the attack on his “colleague and friend”.

“I strongly condemn any form of violence against democratically elected leaders in our free society. My thoughts are with you and I wish you strength in this difficult time,” he wrote.

Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, and The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola also offered thoughts to Frederiksen on X.

“An attack on a democratically elected leader is also an attack on our democracy. Tonight, my thoughts and those of the family are with her,” wrote Kritersson.

Metsola posted: “Shocking attack on the Danish Prime Minister. Violence has no place in politics. My full support for you, Mette!”