The attack Friday was not thought to be politically motivated and a 39-year-old Polish man was apprehended on suspicion of the assault that left the premier with a minor whiplash injury.

“I’m not doing great, and I’m not really myself yet,” she told broadcaster DR in her first interview since the attack.

“He was a man who recognised the prime minister of the country and he hit me,” the 46-year-old leader said of the assailant.

“As a human being, it felt like an attack on me. I got hit. But I have no doubt that it was the prime minister who got hit. In that sense it was an attack on us all,” she said.

“No form of violence has any place in our society.”

Frederiksen said the tone had changed in politics recently.

“We have all seen, across all parties, that the boundaries have moved spectacularly. Especially after the war in the Middle East,” she said, noting that “people have rejoiced over violence”.

Frederiksen said her personal security detail would be boosted going forward.

“Something happened. Every time something happens, there’s a little more protection,” she said.

Frederiksen became the youngest ever Danish prime minister when she took office in 2019. She won re-election in legislative elections in 2022.