Thousands of protesters gathered across Denmark on Saturday in solidarity with Greenland, following US President Donald Trump's threat to annex the Arctic island, demanding that the United States respect Greenlanders' right to self-determination, Reuters reports.
Trump claims Greenland is crucial to US security because of its strategic location and vast mineral reserves, and has not ruled out the use of force to take it. European countries sent military personnel to the island this week at Denmark's request.
With chants of "Greenland is not for sale" and banners with slogans such as "Hands off Greenland," and the Greenlandic red-and-white flag "Erfalasorput," demonstrators gathered at Copenhagen City Hall Square and then marched towards the US Embassy.
"I am very grateful for the enormous support that we Greenlanders are receiving... we are also sending a message to the world that you all need to wake up," said Julie Rademaker, president of the organization Uagut, which brings together Greenlanders in Denmark.
"Greenland and Greenlanders have unwillingly become the front line in the fight for democracy and human rights," she added.
Reuters video footage showed thousands of protesters. Spokespeople for the organizers and police declined to give an estimate of the number of people gathered.
Protests were also held in other locations across Denmark, and were planned to be held in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, later on Saturday.
Trump's repeated statements about the island have sparked an unprecedented diplomatic crisis between the United States and Denmark, both founding members of the NATO military alliance, and have been widely condemned in Europe.
Greenland, a territory with about 57.000 inhabitants that was governed from Copenhagen for centuries, has had significant autonomy since 1979, but remains part of the Kingdom of Denmark, which controls defense and foreign policy and finances much of its administration.
All five political parties elected to the Greenlandic parliament ultimately support independence, but they disagree on the timeframe for that process and in recent days have said they would rather remain part of Denmark than join the United States.
The protests in Denmark were organized by Greenlandic groups in cooperation with ActionAid Denmark, an NGO.
"We demand respect for the Kingdom of Denmark and Greenland's right to self-determination," said Kamila Zizing, president of Inuit, the Joint Association of Greenlandic Local Organizations in Denmark.
According to Danish authorities, around 17.000 Greenlanders live in Denmark.
Only 17 percent of Americans support President Donald Trump's efforts to take over Greenland, while a large majority of both Democrats and Republicans oppose using military force to annex the island, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found. Trump called the poll "fake."
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