Hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets of Denmark to point out support for Greenland and reject United States President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to take management of the self-governing Danish territory.
Waving the flags of Denmark and Greenland, the protesters shaped a sea of pink and white exterior Copenhagen metropolis corridor on Saturday, chanting “Kalaallit Nunaat” – the Arctic island’s identify in Greenlandic.
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Rallies had been additionally organised all through the day within the Danish cities of Aarhus, Aalborg and Odense, in addition to in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk.
“I’m very grateful for the massive help we as Greenlanders obtain … We’re additionally sending a message to the world that you just all should get up,” stated Julie Rademacher, chair of Uagut, an organisation for Greenlanders in Denmark.
“Greenland and the Greenlanders have involuntarily change into the entrance within the struggle for democracy and human rights,” she added.
The demonstrations come as Trump stated 10 percent tariffs could be imposed on European allies opposing US management of Greenland from February 1, hitting Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK.
The US president, who says the transfer is important for his nation’s pursuits, added these tariffs would rise to 25 % on June 1 and would proceed till an settlement is reached for the US to buy Greenland.
Whereas Greenland and Denmark have rejected the concept of the island being “owned” by the US, efforts to get the US administration to alter its stance have thus far appeared to fail.
The overseas ministers of Denmark and Greenland left a gathering with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, DC, this week, saying that they “didn’t handle to alter the American place”.
“It’s clear that the president has this want of conquering over Greenland,” Danish Overseas Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters.
In response to the most recent ballot revealed in January of final yr, 85 % of Greenlanders oppose the territory becoming a member of the US, whereas solely 6 % had been in favour.
Reporting from Nuuk, the Greenlandic capital, Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands stated Saturday’s rally is anticipated to be a big one.
“That is … the capital metropolis, however [home to] solely about 19-20,000 folks. Everybody we spoke to yesterday stated that they had been going to be popping out and marching right now,” Challands stated.
“This primarily is Danes and Greenlanders coming collectively. Everybody right here believes that sooner or later, there needs to be some type of independence [for Greenland],” he added.
“However for the second, Denmark and Greenland are saying that their greatest method out of this disaster is to stay united.”
Some US lawmakers – together with members of Trump’s personal Republican Occasion – even have raised opposition to the president’s push to take management of Greenland, saying it threatens international stability and the US dedication to NATO.
A bipartisan group of US Congress members travelled to Denmark on Friday, led by Democratic Senator Chris Coons, who stated there was no safety menace to Greenland to justify the Trump administration’s stance.
“Greenland is part of Denmark. Denmark is our NATO ally. That needs to be the top of this dialogue, for my part,” Coons instructed reporters in Copenhagen.
Trump has repeatedly accused Denmark of failing to do sufficient to safe Greenland’s territorial waters within the Arctic.
European NATO members are deploying troops in Greenland for a army train designed to point out that they’ll “defend [their] sovereignty”, French armed forces minister Alice Rufo stated this week.
Britain, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have introduced they’re sending small numbers of army personnel to arrange for future workout routines within the Arctic.
