By Sertac Aktan withAP
Release date •updated
Hundreds of Danish veterans, many of whom fought alongside the U.S. military, staged a silent protest in front of the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen on Saturday.
The demonstrations were held over comments that downplayed the Trump administration’s contributions to the conflict and a threat to seize control of Greenland.
The rally began at Copenhagen’s Kastellet Fortress, a historic site still used by the military, from where they marched to the nearby embassy carrying the Danish flag.
“Denmark has always stood side by side with the United States and has appeared in crisis zones around the world at America’s request,” the Danish Veterans and Veterans Support Association, which organized the protest, said in a statement. “We feel let down and ridiculed by the Trump administration. Words cannot express 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.”
Attendees placed 52 Danish flags outside the embassy with the names of military personnel killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Some participants were moved to tears when their names were read out.
Danish military veterans said they were furious at U.S. statements that ignored Greenland’s right to self-determination and denied Denmark’s role in securing the Arctic.
US President Donald Trump said in a speech in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this week that he had fired allied soldiers. “We’ve never needed them and we’ve never really asked them for anything,” he said. “You know, they’ll say they sent troops to Afghanistan and this and that. And they were actually a little further away from the front lines.”
Veteran Soren Knudsen, 65, said the comment offended many veterans. “There are people who are suffering from PTSD and things like that. And there are a lot of veterans who are fortunate enough to not be suffering from anything, but they’re still offended by this statement,” he said.
Forty-four Danish soldiers died in Afghanistan, the highest death toll per capita of any coalition force, and eight more died in Iraq.
“ICE only has spritz”
Elsewhere in Europe, protests also took place in Italy, where hundreds of people gathered in Milan to protest the deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during the upcoming Winter Olympics.
(The demonstrators who filled Piazza 25 April, named after Italy’s liberation from Nazi fascism in 1945, blew whistles and waved banners that read “Never again means never again for everyone” and “Ice only for spritzes,” after the popular aperitif.)
The protest was supported by members of the Democratic Party, the CGIL trade union confederation, and ANPI, Preserving the Memory of the Italian Anti-Fascist Resistance.
Mayor Giuseppe Sala said ICE agents are not welcome in Milan. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi was called to parliament to explain the deployment.
The Winter Olympics will open on February 6th, with US Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio expected to attend.