Danish veterans stage protest outside US Embassy

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Hundreds of Danish veterans, many of whom fought alongside U.S. troops, 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 belittling their combat contributions.

“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 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.

Veterans first gathered at a monument honoring fallen Danish service members then began marching to the nearby U.S. Embassy, where they will observe five minutes of silence — one each for Denmark’s army, air force, navy, emergency management agency and police.

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.

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.

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.