Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Leader of Dutch far-right populist party struck in attack days before election

Thierry Baudet, leader of right-wing populist party Forum for Democracy, was treated in hospital after being hit on the back of the head (Peter Dejong/AP)
Thierry Baudet, leader of right-wing populist party Forum for Democracy, was treated in hospital after being hit on the back of the head (Peter Dejong/AP)

The leader of a far-right Dutch populist party was assaulted at an event in the northern city of Groningen on Monday, two days before the Netherlands holds a general election.

Thierry Baudet, leader of Forum for Democracy, was taken to a hospital in the city, the party said in a message on X, formerly Twitter.

The party said Mr Baudet was “alright” and was treated by a trauma surgeon after being hit on the back of the head and next to his eye with a beer bottle.

It said a security guard also was injured.

Video on social media showed Mr Baudet in a bar when his attacker lunged at him.

He was quickly taken away and the attacker was overpowered.

Police spokesman Thijs de Jong said a person was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the attack. He said the motive was under investigation.

Mr De Jong said he could not comment on Mr Baudet’s condition.

However, he added: “What we can say at the moment is that Mr Baudet was hit on the head, possibly with an object.”

Russian invasion of Ukraine
Outgoing Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte called the attack ‘totally unacceptable’ (Victoria Jones/PA)

Mr Baudet is running to keep his seat in parliament.

His party said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that it was not clear if a later event in another Dutch city would go ahead.

Last month, the party leader was hit on the head with an umbrella at an event in the Belgian city of Ghent.

Outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a message on X that it was “totally unacceptable that Thierry Baudet has been attacked again. I said it before and I repeat it now: Stay away from politicians. Always”.

Mr Rutte said he had contacted Mr Baudet to wish him good health.