The longtime strongman of Switzerland's populist right Christoph Blocher was attacked by an elderly man carrying a knife after a political debate in Zurich, but escaped unharmed, a newspaper reported Sunday.
The 75-year-old multi-billionaire, who is considered the architect of the Swiss People's Party (SVP)'s soaring popularity, was leaving a political roundtable discussion at a Zurich hotel Saturday afternoon when an unidentified man accosted him, the SonntagsBlick weekly reported.
Blocher, who was walking down one of the hotel's corridors with his wife after a debate on Switzerland's relationship with the EU, told the paper the man had asked him if he remembered him before swinging a punch at him.
The Swiss ATS news agency said police gave the attacker's age as 81.
Security guards tackled the man and pushed him up against a wall, at which point a knife he was carrying fell to the ground, SonntagsBlick reported.