1000’s of individuals in Denmark and Greenland gathered over the weekend to protest the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to accumulate the semi-autonomous Danish territory, some donning a brand new tackle MAGA’s globally acknowledged “Make America Nice Once more” slogan.
Roughly 10,000 Danes marched exterior Copenhagen Metropolis Corridor in defiance of the U.S. president’s pursuit of Greenland.
The demonstrations drew numerous crowds, from older residents to younger households. Some wore hats modelled on Trump’s purple MAGA caps however with “Make America Go Away” written on them. Others flew Greenlandic flags and held indicators studying “Fingers off Greenland.”
Demonstrators collect to protest towards U.S. actions and remarks suggesting management over Greenland in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Jan. 17, 2026.
Zhang Yuliang/Xinhua through ZUMA Press
“We have now to help Greenland,” protester Susanne Kristensen stated. “We’re Danes, Greenlanders are Danes, despite the fact that they’re Greenlanders, and we simply have to stay collectively.”
“I need to present my help to Greenland and likewise present that I don’t just like the president of america,” 76-year-old Copenhagen resident Lars Hermansen, who wore one of many purple caps at a protest Saturday, informed the Related Press.
The mock hats have been created by Copenhagen classic clothes retailer proprietor Jesper Rabe Tonnesen. Early batches flopped final 12 months — till the Trump administration lately escalated its rhetoric over Greenland. Now they’re popping up all over the place.
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Trump stated Saturday that he would cost a ten per cent import tax beginning in February on items from eight European nations due to their opposition to American management of Greenland, which is a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.
Denmark, alongside america and lots of different nations, together with Canada and the UK, is a member of NATO. Earlier this month, Trump hinted once more at taking motion in Greenland, calling it a mandatory transfer to protect U.S. nationwide safety, an argument he toyed with final 12 months.
Article 5 is among the core rules of the 76-year-old navy alliance and states that “an armed assault towards one NATO member shall be thought of an assault towards all members, and triggers an obligation for every member to come back to its help.”
The one time the article has ever been invoked has been after the terrorist assaults of Sept. 11, 2001, although the alliance has by no means handled one member threatening to assault one other.
However Trump is insistent that Greenland must be in U.S. fingers.
“If we don’t do it the simple method, we’re going to do it the exhausting method,” he stated, having beforehand expressed his intentions to buy the Arctic island.
Nicole Covey, a fellow on the Canadian World Affairs Institute, informed World Information that, despite the fact that the post-war alliance has weathered inside conflicts previously, a navy assault can be uncharted territory.
“There isn’t any precedent for an precise inside assault,” she stated. “In any case, there may be this established norm that allies will not be speculated to assault one another in the event that they need to keep any form of optimistic tie.”
European governments are rallying behind Denmark, citing the necessity to defend Arctic areas and warning that threats towards Greenland undermine Western safety.
The protest in Denmark additionally got here forward of the brand new wave of tariffs imposed by Trump on Denmark and its allies.
Demonstrators collect to protest towards U.S. actions and remarks suggesting management over Greenland in entrance of the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Jan. 17, 2026.
(CLiu Zhichao/Xinhua through ZUMA Press
In the course of the demonstrations, a bipartisan congressional delegation, in search of to point out solidarity with Denmark and Greenland, was within the Danish capital to fulfill with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and different Danish and Greenlandic leaders.
“It makes an enormous distinction that Congress members come right here and hear,” Kristime Due, who was on the protest in Copenhagen, informed NBC Information.
FILE – Former President Donald Trump throws autographed hats to the group through the ultimate spherical of the Bedminster Invitational LIV Golf match in Bedminster, N.J., Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023.
AP Picture/Seth Wenig, File
International affairs spokesman Flemming Møller Mortensen stated Friday that folks in Denmark and Greenland are scared by the escalation and Trump’s obvious willingness to bypass diplomacy.
“We really feel frightened,” Mortensen stated. “Particularly the folks dwelling in Greenland, each adults but additionally kids and youngsters,” Mortensen stated.
— With information from World Information’ Uday Rana and the Related Press
© 2026 World Information, a division of Corus Leisure Inc.
