For the first time since Donald Trump renewed his campaign to take over Greenland, people across the Arctic island braved the freezing temperatures and took to the icy streets on Saturday in co-ordinated protests.
Demonstrators waved Greenlandic flags, as some people openly cried in the rain, at a protest in Nuuk, the capital, when prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen suddenly appeared. The crowd roared as he climbed on to a snowbank to raise a flag.
“We said it last year, and we will keep saying it: We are not for sale,” said Isak Berthelsen, a 43-year-old electrician from Nuuk.
Repeating the message, he added, did not feel exhausting. “It’s energising,” he said. “It shows that we are strong enough to say no, and that we have our own voice.”
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Mr Nielsen led several hundred Greenlanders as they marched through the capital’s centre, a rare sight in a city of fewer than 20,000 residents. Some carried hand-painted signs reading “No means no,” “Greenland Is Already Great” and “Yankee, go home!” Others displayed harsher – and cruder – slogans aimed at the US administration. Demonstrations were also held in Aasiaat, Qaqortoq and Ilulissat, with rallies taking place in Copenhagen and other Danish cities.
Many protesters said Saturday that they had reached a breaking point after Mr Trump repeatedly suggested the United States would take Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of Denmark, “one way or the other,” and that it would happen “whether they like it or not.”
“There is a lot of unrest inside people right now,” said Kristian Johansen (67), a retired carpenter who lives in Nuuk and helped organise the demonstration. “Every new statement makes it worse.”
Foreign ministers from Denmark and Greenland had travelled to Washington days earlier to defuse the situation in a meeting with US vice president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio.
After the meeting, the White House said the talks would move into a phase focused on the “technicalities of acquiring Greenland.” Danish and Greenlandic officials rejected that characterisation, saying they had agreed to continue discussions aimed at addressing US security concerns without a takeover.
Then on Saturday, Mr Trump announced that he would impose new tariffs on Denmark – and several other Nato countries that have expressed solidarity with it – unless they relent.
The crowd in Nuuk included teachers, children, fishermen and retirees, many wrapped in Greenlandic flags, joining the protest in hopes of conveying their anger, frustration and fear to Trump.
“I don’t know how else you talk to someone who doesn’t understand anything at all,” said Angu Kristensen (63).
Polls and interviews conducted over recent weeks have shown that Greenlanders overwhelmingly oppose becoming part of the United States. Instead, most say they prefer to remain a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, where they enjoy a high standard of living and broad autonomy over domestic affairs.
“If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark,” Nielsen said Tuesday in a joint news conference with Denmark’s prime minister.
Protesters from across Denmark packed Copenhagen’s City Hall Square before marching to the US embassy on Saturday, with some carrying signs of solidarity with Greenland, like “This Land Is Their Land.” Others directed their messages at the Trump administration, including “Make America Smart Again.”
Hanne Dueholm (61) had come into the city from her horse farm in Lejre with her husband and daughter, sporting hats that said, “Make America Go Away.”
“When Trump began making threats, I thought: He is just like Putin – he needs another country, so he takes it,” she said, adding, “but you can’t have that mindset in a democratic world.”
This past week, Nato allies in Europe, including France, Germany and several Scandinavian countries, deployed personnel to Greenland as part of Danish-led exercises, in a gesture of solidarity.
“It shows that we have support from Europe and Nato, and that we are not standing alone,” said Anso Lauritzen (49), an organiser of the protest in Ilulissat. At the same time, she added, many Greenlanders remain uneasy about militarisation. “Most people here don’t want the military in Greenland,” she said. “But right now, it feels better than nothing.”
Mr Trump is not the first American leader to be drawn to Greenland’s strategic location and vast natural resources. The United States explored acquiring the island in 1867 and again in 1946. But Denmark has long resisted relinquishing control.
In Greenland’s long history with Denmark, “we have many wounds and a lot of pain between us,” said Maria Meier Brun, a social worker whose father was Greenlandic and who joined the protests in Copenhagen. But, she said, there was also a sense of unity between the two peoples.
“We are not American, and we will never be American,” she said. “Some time ago, we wanted to be partners. But right now, I don’t really want to.”
In Nuuk, demonstrators gathered near a darkened US consulate, sealed off by police barricades, playing traditional drums and chanting, “Kalaallit Nunaat,” the name for the island in Greenlandic.
“The president has nothing to do here,” said Parnuna Olsen (25), a student in Nuuk. Others shouted in agreement.
If he were to come to Greenland, she said, he would not be welcomed, adding that her response would not be polite. – This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
