Former Danish justice minister assaulted

Bødskov was watching the Iceland-Portugal match and drinking a beer with other football fans at an outdoor viewing in Islands Brygge when he was punched by a young man in what appears to be a politically-motivated attack. 

 

Bødskov wrote on Facebook that a young man came and asked him if he was the former justice minister. When he said he was, the man then asked him to explain the economic policies of Bødskov’s party, the Social Democrats. 

 

“When I ask him to expand upon the question, he rambled a bit and then suddenly stood up and punched me hard in the temple,” Bødskov wrote. 

 

“Before he hit me he said something like ‘this is from Mouril’ or ‘this is from Mourine’. I don’t know what that means,” the MP continued. 

 

The former minister said he was completely caught off-guard by the attack. 

 

“I am of course quite shocked and I have a headache today and my cheek is a bit black and blue. The police luckily showed up quickly and are now investigating,” he wrote. 

 

Police said that they are reviewing surveillance camera footage and are hoping that the man’s tattoo of a cross on the inside of his left arm will lead them to the suspect. 

 

The attack on Bødskov sent shock waves through Denmark, where politicians typically mix among the public with no security or entourage. 

 

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said the attack made him “angry”.

 

“Regardless of whether one is a member of parliament or just a regular resident in this country, you should be able to move around freely without the fear of violence or attack,” the PM wrote on Facebook. 

 

“If the attack on Morten Bødskov was politically-motivated, it puts the case in an even more serious light. In a democracy, it is essential that everyone – not least of all our chosen representatives – can freely believe and express what they want without having to look over their shoulder when they are on the street or to a fun football evening in their local neighbourhood,” Rasmussen continued.