On 17th January, thousands of people took to the streets of the capital of Denmark to demonstrate against US President Donald Trump, who wanted to annex Greenland, the autonomous Danish state. Thousands of others supported them by marching and singing traditional Inuit songs in a sister demonstration in the capital of Greenland, Nuuk.

The demonstrations came after Trump issued a threat on Friday that he could impose a tariff on those nations that did not acquiesce to his intentions to take over the mineral-rich Greenland, which is an autonomous unit in Denmark.

They were also simultaneous with a trip by a US congressional delegation to Copenhagen, which has been vocal about the opposition of most Americans toward sabre-rattling by the Trump administration.

The protestors waved the Denmark and Greenland flags and created a red-white sea in front of the city hall of Copenhagen, shouting “Kalaallit Nunaat!” – the name of the huge Arctic Island in Greenland, when translated into Greenlandic.

On social media, thousands of people had stated that they would attend marches and rallies held by Greenlandic associations in Copenhagen, and in Aarhus, Aalborg, Odense and the Greenlandic capital Nuuk.

Playing into the hands of Russia: Analyst is alarmed by Trump’s Greenland move as it strains the NATO alliance.

Uagut, an association of Greenlanders in Denmark, posted on its site that it was meant to convey a strong and cohesive message of respect towards the democracy and basic human rights of Greenland.

On Saturday, a number of thousands of people also protested in Greenland’s capital.

The demonstrators, among them the prime minister of the territory, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, who was waving a Greenlandic flag, sang the slogans and the traditional Inuit songs under some light rain.

AFP reporters spotted many of them wearing caps with the slogan “Make America Go Away,” a Trumpian-style MAGA brand.

The Copenhagen event, which started at 12 pm (1100 GMT), was to stop outside the US embassy in the Danish capital.

‘Demand respect’

In a statement issued to AFP to demand unity, Julie Rademacher, chairwoman of Uagut in both Greenland and Denmark, said that recent events had strained Greenland and Greenlanders.

“We are at risk of causing more problems than solutions to ourselves and to one another when we enter the state of alarm and begin to increase the number of tensions. We are calling upon Greenlanders in Greenland and in Denmark, too,” she said. 

“The protest in Greenland was to release the message that we are acting, we are united, and we are with our politicians, our diplomats and our associates, one of the organisers,” Kristian Johansen, said in a statement.

The annexation plan by Trump generates protests in all of Denmark.

Adding to the group was Avijaja Rosing-Olsen, another organiser, who said: “We demand that our country be treated with the right to self-determination and ourselves as a people. 

With respect to international law and international legal principles. It is not just our struggle, but it is the struggle of the world.”

The recent poll published in January 2025 reported that 85 per cent of the people of Greenland are against the incorporation of the land into the country. It was only supported by six per cent.   

‘No security threat’ 

In Copenhagen, where the members of the Congressional delegation held meetings with top Danish and Greenlandic politicians and business people, the US Democratic Senator Chris Coons argued that there was no threat to the security of Greenland to warrant the Trump administration’s standpoint.

His response was based on Trump advisor Stephen Miller saying on Fox News that Denmark was so small that it could not protect its sovereign Arctic land. 

Coons told the press that there are no immediate concerns with Greenland security, but the Arctic security in the future is something that we are really concerned about, as the climate changes, as sea ice melts, the routes shift.

“There are valid grounds why we should consider how we can invest more constructively in Arctic security in general, in the American Arctic, our NATO partners, and allies,” said Coons, who is leading the US delegation.

Trump has also made repeated criticisms of Denmark, a NATO ally, as having not done enough, according to him, to make sure that Greenland is safe.

The US president has sought to take that argument, although strategically located Greenland, which is a part of Denmark, falls under the NATO security umbrella.

“NATO members of Europe are sending troops to Greenland to carry out a military drill aimed at demonstrating to the world and the United States in particular that they will protect their sovereignty,” French armed forces minister Alice Rufo said this week.

Britain, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have already reported the arrival of small populations of military forces to be prepared to join exercises in the Arctic in the future. 

Denmark invited the United States to take part in the exercise on Friday.