COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Hundreds of Danish veterans — many of whom fought alongside U.S. troops — and thousands of supporters staged a silent protest Saturday outside the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen in response to the Trump administration’s threats to take over Greenland and Trump’s belittling of their combat contributions.
Veterans first gathered at Copenhagen’s Kastellet historic fortress, which includes a public park and places still used by the Danish military, and then marched to the nearby U.S. Embassy, carrying several large Danish flags.
“Denmark has always stood side by side with the USA — and we have showed up in the world’s crisis zones when the USA has asked us to. We feel let down and ridiculed by the Trump Administration, which is deliberately disregarding Denmark’s combat side by side with the USA,” Danish Veterans & Veteran Support, the organizers of the protest said in a statement.
“Words cannot describe how much it hurts us that Denmark’s contributions and sacrifices in the fight for democracy, peace and freedom are being forgotten in the White House,” it said.
Before observing several minutes of silence, attendees ceremoniously planted 52 Danish flags outside the U.S. Embassy. The flags bore the names of the 52 Danish servicemen who lost their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq.
As the servicemen’s names were read out, some attendees shed a tear.
Danish veterans are furious at how the White House rhetoric disregards the right to self-determination of Greenland, a territory of NATO ally Denmark. They also strongly object to Trump’s claim that Denmark is incapable of protecting the West’s security interests in the Arctic.
“They have a feeling that they’ve been betrayed. And of course, they are angered by this. They deployed. They fought with the Americans. They fought with the Brits. They fought together. They bled together,” said Carsten Rasmussen, a 65-year-old Danish veteran and president of the Danish Veterans Association. “And as you have heard here in front of the American embassy today, 52 of them never returned.”
“We’ve never needed them, we have never really asked anything of them,” Trump said of non-U.S. troops in an interview with Fox Business Network in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday. “You know, they’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan, or this or that, and they did — they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.”
Søren Knudsen, a 65-year-old Danish veteran, said many soldiers lost a limb during their service. “We have some who are suffering from PTSD or the like. And we have a lot of veterans who are luckily not suffering from anything, but they are still feeling offended by the statements.” He added: ”Hence, very importantly, we wanted to give this message.”
Forty-four Danish soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, the highest per capita death toll among coalition forces. Eight more died in Iraq.
Tensions were further inflamed Tuesday when 44 Danish flags — one for every Danish soldier killed in Afghanistan — that had been placed in front of the embassy were removed by embassy staff.
Rasmussen said that action likely added “a few thousand people” to Saturday’s silent protest.
The State Department later said that, as a general rule, guard staff remove items left behind following demonstrations and other “legitimate exercises of free speech.” The flags were returned to those who left them, it said.