COPENHAGEN – Thousands of people marched from Copenhagen City Hall to the U.S. embassy Saturday afternoon in protest of President Trump's comments that he wants to acquire Greenland.
The crowd, waving Greenlandic flags, chanted "Greenland is not for sale." Many demonstrators wore red hats in Trump's own "Make America great again" fashion that read, "Make America go away."
Trump has continued to endorse the idea of acquiring Greenland, which he says the U.S. needs for national security purposes. The U.S. already has a military presence on the island.
"One way or the other, we're going to have Greenland," Trump told reporters recently on Air Force One.
Saturday's protest came on the heels of a bipartisan Congressional delegation that travelled to Copenhagen. House and Senate lawmakers met with Danish and Greenlandic officials, as well as members of the Danish business community. The visit was meant to be a reassurance tour — affirming the longstanding relationship between the U.S. and the Kingdom of Denmark in the face of Trump's rhetoric.
Peder Dam, who lives in Denmark, attended the demonstration with a sign that featured an image of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker from Star Wars that read: "Americans: I know there is good in you. Come back to sanity."
"We know what is going on in the White House is not representative for all Americans," he told NPR.
But he said he wonders why there isn't more widespread outrage from the American public.
"I can't understand. If my government said they would attack Sweden, then Denmark would step up and protest that," he said. "I like protests in the U.S. But why aren't there more normal, average Americans stepping up, trying to protest what is going on? It's crazy."
Another protester, Thomas, whom NPR is identifying only by his first name because of concerns about retaliation at work, said the march represents "an unseen level of resentment towards the U.S.
"I cannot express how deeply disappointed I am — that we have sent our troops to die with you in Iraq, we were with you in Afghanistan," he said. "How dare you turn your back on us in this way?"
He said while he thinks Americans might not believe that Trump will actually invade Greenland, that's a skepticism that people in the Kingdom of Denmark can't afford.
"I don't think it's going to happen, but we don't know," he said. "And that's creating an unprecedented level of emotional uncertainty and political uncertainty."
Naja Mathilde Rosing said the march felt intensely personal. She and her family are from Greenland.
"We are here to show solidarity, that we do not wish to be a part of the United States," she told NPR. "We are strong as we are, and we are not interested in having anything to do with America."
She pushed back on Trump's claims that Russia and China are encircling Greenland, claiming it's a red herring. The U.S. Congressional delegation told reporters that there's no intelligence suggesting that, either.
Rosing said the idea itself of purchasing Greenland is offensive to indigenous communities, who she said respect the land and don't see it as something you can own.
"America has a sense of feeling they can steal land from the Native Americans, steal land from the indigenous Hawaiian people, steal land from the indigenous Inuit from Alaska," she said. "You cannot buy Greenland, you cannot buy a people. It is so wrong, disrespectful to think that you can purchase a country and a people."
Charlotte Holm lives in Copenhagen but has family in Greenland.
"They're so scared," she said. "They're afraid because they don't know what's going to happen to their society."
She said the message to the U.S. is simple: "Leave them alone. Go focus on the Epstein files, go focus on the midterm elections."
She said she hopes Trump will "get obsessed with something else" but worries about the ripple effect of any possible U.S. encroachment into Greenland.
"It's going to reshape fundamentally the world order if he does. NATO's going to implode," she said, echoing similar comments from Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. "We need American citizens to call their Republican representatives and tell them we need to take care of NATO, because if we go across that line, there's no going back. You can't put the toothpaste back into the tube."
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