Demonstrators gathered at rallies in both Denmark and Greenland on Saturday to protest US President Donald Trump’s threat to seize the Arctic island.
In Denmark, thousands of people gathered in the cities of Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg and Odense to demonstrate solidarity with the people of Greenland.
Many waved banners with slogans such as “Hands off Greenland” alongside Greenland’s red and white flag, Reuters reported.
The protests across Denmark were organized by Greenlandic organizations in collaboration with the NGO ActionAid Denmark. ActionAid said in a statement that the riot was deliberately planned to coincide with a visit by US senators to Denmark.
“We are demonstrating against America’s statement and ambition to annex Greenland,” said Camila Seesing, president of the United Inuit Association, one of the Greenlandic organizations involved in planning the protest.
“We demand respect for the Kingdom of Denmark and Greenland’s right to self-determination. Hopefully we can show that we are among the many who support Greenland.”
Protests are also planned in Greenland’s capital Nuuk later Saturday. “We are not for sale,” one female protester in Nuuk told CNN when asked for her message to President Trump.
President Trump has become increasingly vocal about Greenland in recent weeks, insisting it should be placed under U.S. control. Earlier this week, President Trump argued that the United States needed the territory for national security purposes, which could ultimately strengthen NATO, and said “anything” less was “unacceptable.”
His repeated comments have strained diplomatic relations between the United States and Denmark, which owns the territory but gives local people the right to self-determination, and have also drawn criticism from NATO’s European allies.
As the situation escalated, a bipartisan U.S. delegation was sent to Copenhagen to meet with the leaders of Denmark and Greenland.
At a press conference on Saturday, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, who heads the delegation, said the Trump administration’s “tempo of rhetoric” about the potential purchase of Greenland was not constructive.
Senator Coons also expressed his respect for Greenland’s indigenous peoples, telling reporters that Greenland is a “remote and inhospitable place, and that Greenlanders have managed to navigate an exceptionally difficult environment, culture, and way of life worthy of deep respect.”
The U.S. lawmaker sought to highlight the U.S.-Denmark partnership, including in the military, and said a delegation would visit the cemetery later Saturday to lay wreaths for Danish soldiers who died alongside U.S. forces in conflicts such as the Afghanistan war.
Reporting from Greenland’s capital Nuuk, CNN’s International Diplomacy Editor Nick Robertson said the US lawmakers’ visit was aimed at demonstrating how highly the military partnership between Denmark and the US was valued. “Going to that cemetery today to really lay a wreath for them is going to sum up how much the United States values that partnership and how much we value Denmark and the lives that the Danish military sacrificed,” he said.
Kit Maher and Ivana Kottasová contributed reporting.
