The attack on the Danish Prime Minister is the latest in a series of attacks on European politicians

Police arrest a man after Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot and injured in Handlova, Slovakia on May 15. Radovan Stoklasa/TASR via AP

WARSAW, Poland — The Slovakian prime minister was shot multiple times in an assassination attempt last month and still faces a long recovery. The Danish prime minister was attacked by a man in downtown Copenhagen on Friday night. German politicians have been subjected to a wave of physical and verbal attacks for months.

Political violence appears to be on the rise across Europe, with societies deeply polarised by large-scale migration from the Middle East and Africa and severely shaken by the war in Ukraine, the continent’s largest conflict since World War II.

The latest violence came ahead of elections to the European Parliament, the legislature of the 27-nation bloc, taking place this weekend.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico arrives in Brussels on February 1 for a meeting as part of an EU summit. Geert Vanden Wijngaert/Associated Press

In general, EU elections do not trigger the same emotions as national elections, and it is not clear to what extent the violence is fuelled by the campaign climate. But migration pressure has aroused strong emotions and is likely to lead to a political shift to the right in the EU Parliament.

The most serious attack so far was against Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, who fought for his life on May 15 after several shots were fired at him while greeting his supporters.

Fico, who took office last fall after campaigning on a pro-Russian and anti-American platform, suggested in a recorded video this week that he had been targeted because of his views, which differ sharply from the European mainstream.

Now some critics fear that Fico, who had already faced accusations of undermining democratic norms before the attack, wants to use the assassination attempt to mobilize support for his left-wing populist Smer party.

The attack on Fico was followed by a wave of violence elsewhere. Most recently, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was attacked by a 39-year-old man on the streets of Copenhagen on Friday evening.

Frederiksen, the leader of Denmark’s Social Democrats, was taken to hospital for examination. Although she was unhurt, her office said she was “shaken by the incident.” She canceled campaign events on Saturday, the eve of elections in her country.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen attends a ceremony at the Danish memorial outside Sainte Marie du Mont in Normandy on Thursday. Jeremiah Gonzalez/Associated Press

The details of the incident are still unclear, but local media reported that the man apparently approached Frederiksen violently and pushed her violently.

For some, the attacks on elected politicians reinforce the growing feeling that democracy itself is under attack.

“An attack on a democratically elected leader is also an attack on our democracy,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Saturday.

In France, the Socialist Party’s leading candidate in the EU elections, Raphael Glucksmann, was pelted with eggs and paint at a May Day rally last month and escorted out by security guards, followed by angry protesters.

Right-wing extremist Eric Zemmour hit a woman who threw an egg at him during an election campaign in Corsica in early May.

In Germany, both government and opposition parties said their members and supporters had been subjected to a wave of physical and verbal attacks in recent months.

Last month, Berlin’s deputy mayor was attacked at an event at a local library by a man who approached her from behind and hit her with a bag that police said contained a hard object.

Previously, a candidate from Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party had been beaten up in Dresden during the election campaign for the European elections and had to undergo surgery. This week, a right-wing extremist candidate was stabbed and injured in Mannheim during the election campaign for the local elections taking place on the same day.

“We have seen in recent weeks that the willingness to use violence to achieve political goals or silence people has increased,” said Lars Klingbeil, one of the co-chairs of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party, in parliament on Thursday. “Representatives of all political parties have been physically attacked in recent weeks… Violence must have no place in our society. There is no ‘yes, but’, there is no trivialization.”

In Britain, which also holds national elections on July 4, pro-Brexit and anti-immigration activist Nigel Farage was pelted with a milkshake this week after he returned to British politics and announced that he would take over the leadership of the right-wing Reform UK party and run for parliament.

A 25-year-old woman was charged with assault.

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