Hundreds of Danish protesters, many of whom are military veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, staged a demonstration outside the US embassy in Copenhagen on Saturday.
The group protested President Donald Trump’s push for the US to take over Greenland from Denmark and his comments in Davos that NATO troops were “a little bit behind” when fighting alongside the US in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“They feel like they have been betrayed,” Carsten Rasmussen, president of the Danish Veterans Association, told The Associated Press. “And of course they are angry about this. They have been deployed. They have fought with the Americans. They have fought with the British. They have fought together. They have bled together. And as you heard here today in front of the American Embassy, 52 of them never returned.”
Forty-four Danish soldiers died in Afghanistan, the highest death toll per capita for a NATO country in the war, and eight others died in Iraq. Denmark’s population was just over 6 million in 2025.
EUROPEAN LEADERS WARN TRUMP TARIFFS FOR GREENLAND ‘RISK A DANGEROUS DOWNWARD SPIRAL’
Demonstrators Saturday at the US Embassy in Copenhagen. (Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
During the protest, demonstrators laid 52 flags with the names of the fallen outside the embassy.
“Behind all these flags is a man, a soldier and a young man,” Lt. Col. Niels Christian Koefoed, a Dane who served in Afghanistan, told Reuters.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called Trump’s comments about “leaving a little behind” “insulting and downright appalling,” prompting Trump to write on Truth Social: “The GREAT and very BRAVE soldiers of the United Kingdom will always be with the United States of America!”
However, he did not recognize the sacrifices of other NATO troops.
“Denmark has always stood side by side with the US – and we have appeared in the crisis areas of the world when the US asked us to,” Danish Veterans & Veteran Support, the group that organized the protest, said in a statement. “We feel abandoned and ridiculed by the Trump administration, which is deliberately ignoring Denmark’s struggle alongside the US.”
Hundreds of Danish veterans and other demonstrators protested outside the US embassy in Copenhagen on Saturday. (Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
PRINCE HARRY FIRE BACK AT TRUMP OVER NATO CRITICISM: ‘I LOST FRIENDS’ IN AFGHANISTAN
The group added: “Words cannot describe how much pain we are that Denmark’s contributions and sacrifices in the fight for democracy, peace and freedom are being forgotten in the White House.”
Whitaker said Greenland’s importance has been clear for years as the ice melts, reshapes the Arctic and opens up new routes. “The security of the Far North, which I talked about a lot before this ever happened, is the most important issue,” he said. “As the ice thaws and routes open up in the Arctic, security in the Arctic, and therefore the security of Greenland, which forms the northern flank of the continental United States, is critical.”
The demonstrators felt “offended” by President Donald Trump’s comment that NATO troops were “a little behind” in Afghanistan and Iraq. (Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
He emphasized that Greenland’s location makes it central to U.S. defense planning. “If you consider Greenland as part of the access to naval assets, monitoring, awareness and strengthening of that part of the Western Hemisphere is critical to the long-term security of the United States,” Whitaker said.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
He said recent diplomacy shows the issue can be addressed without escalation. “I know there was a very successful meeting between the Danes and Greenland and Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Rubio, so I think it will be constructive.”
