Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was left “shocked” after being attacked in the street in Copenhagen, her office said.
The attack took place in a city center square where a man approached her and hit her.
The attacker was arrested.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen called it “a despicable act, which goes against everything we believe in and fight for in Europe.”
“Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was beaten on Friday evening at Kultorvet in Copenhagen by a man who was later arrested. The Prime Minister is shocked by this incident,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement without giving further details.
Police said they had arrested a man and were investigating the incident, but declined to say more.
There is no word yet on a motive.
Two witnesses, Marie Adrian and Anna Ravn, told local newspaper BT that they had witnessed the attack.
“A man came from the opposite direction and gave her a strong push on the shoulder, causing her to fall to the side,” both women told the newspaper.
They said that although it was a “strong push”, the prime minister had not touched the ground.
She then sat in a cafe, they added.
The attack comes two days before the European elections vote in Denmark.
Ms. Frederiksen, leader of the Danish Social Democrats, had already participated in a European election with the main candidate of her party, Christel Schaldemose, reports the Danish channel TV2.
The Social Democrats are the largest party in the Danish coalition government. They still lead the polls, but their support has declined significantly in recent months.
Danish Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke said on X: “Mette is understandably shocked by the attack. I have to say that it shakes all of us who are close to her.”
EU chief Charles Michel said he was “outraged” over X.
“I strongly condemn this cowardly act of aggression,” he said.
The attack comes less than a month later Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot multiple times while greeting supporters. He survived and has since undergone surgery.
Ms Frederiksen, 46, became prime minister in 2019 after taking over as leader of the center-left Social Democrats four years earlier. This made her the youngest Prime Minister in Danish history.
Shortly after, she became embroiled in a dispute with then-President Donald Trump after rejecting his idea that the United States would buy Greenland.
Mr Trump called her “nasty” after dismissing the suggestion of such a land deal as “absurd”.
In 2022, Ms Frederiksen was heavily criticized by a commission investigating his government’s decision to cull millions of mink during the Covid pandemic.
