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(Bloomberg) — Thousands of Danish veterans and supporters protested at the US embassy in Copenhagen on Saturday over recent remarks by Donald Trump that allied NATO troops “stayed a little back” from the front lines during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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The US president’s comments have sparked widespread anger in Denmark, a country of 6 million people that lost 44 men and women in Afghanistan, one of the highest per-capita death tolls among US allies. The relationship between Washington and Copenhagen was already strained over Trump’s demands to take over Greenland, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
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The demonstration started at the memorial for Danish troops who lost their lives in recent wars, where veterans laid a wreath and held one minute of silence. The protesters then walked in sub-zero temperatures about one mile across the Danish capital to the US embassy, carrying Danish flags and banners saying NoWords, the official name of the protest.
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“Enough is enough. We are, to put it mildly, outraged to hear the American president’s repeated lies, and we will not simply shrug them off,” Carsten Rasmussen, chairman of Denmark’s Veterans and the organizer of the rally, said. “We refuse to listen to these lies. They are an insult to those who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq, and a terrible insult to the families who have lost a family member in these wars.”
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Tensions escalated earlier this week when the US embassy removed 44 Danish flags placed in flower boxes outside the building, each bearing the name of a Danish soldier killed in Afghanistan. The move drew sharp criticism from politicians in Denmark, a founding member of NATO. The demonstrators placed new flags on Saturday and the embassy has said it would not have removed the original ones had their significance been understood and emphasized its “deepest respect” for Danish veterans.
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Some US and UK veterans also participated in the demonstration, according to Danish broadcaster DR. One protester carried a banner saying “Apologize Trump.”
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The tension over Trump’s demands to own Greenland sparked anti-US protests across Denmark’s biggest cities in January, when more than 30,000 people rallied in support of the Arctic island. A rally is also planned in front of the US consulate in Greenland’s capital Nuuk later on Saturday.
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Other North Atlantic Treaty Organization members, including Canada and the UK, have also expressed outrage over Trump diminishing their losses in Afghanistan. Trump has subsequently lauded the UK military, but has stopped short of apologizing.
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Trump’s comments “felt like a knife in the back,” Christian Hvidt, who was Denmark’s chief of defense from 1996 to 2002, told broadcaster TV2 at the Saturday rally. “I participate today to support Danish veterans and those who paid the ultimate price following their orders.”
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