Thousands of Greenlanders march against Trump’s takeover threat | Greenland
Thousands of Greenlanders carefully walked across snow and ice on Saturday to take a stand against Donald Trump. They held protest signs, waved their national flags and chanted “Greenland is not for sale” in the face of growing threats of an American takeover.
As they completed their walk from the small city center of Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, to the US consulate, news came that Trump had announced that he would impose a 10% tariff on eight European countries starting in February due to their opposition to US control over Greenland.
“I thought this day couldn’t get any worse, but it did,” Malik Dollerup-Scheibel said after the Associated Press notified him of Trump’s announcement. “This shows that he no longer has any remorse towards any human being.”
Trump has long said he thinks the United States should own the strategically located and mineral-rich island as a self-governing territory of Greenland. Trump intensified his calls a day after a military operation to oust former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.
Dollerup-Scheibel, a 21-year-old Greenlander, and Greenlandic prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen were among what others described as the island’s largest protest, drawing almost a quarter of Nuuk’s population.
Others held rallies and solidarity marches in Danish territories, including Copenhagen, and in the capital of Canada’s northernmost Inuit-run territory of Nunavut.
“This is important for the whole world,” Danish protester Elise Riechie said while holding Danish and Greenlandic flags in Copenhagen. “There are many small countries. None of them are for sale.”
In Nuuk, Greenlanders of all ages listened to traditional songs as they walked to the consulate. Marie Pedersen, a 47-year-old from Greenland, said it was important to bring her children to the rally “to show them that they are allowed to speak.”
“We want to keep our own country, our own culture and our family safe,” he said.
Nine-year-old daughter Alaska created her own “Greenland is not for sale” sign. The girl said her teachers took up the controversy and taught them about NATO at school.
“They tell us how to stand up when you’re being bullied by another country,” he said.
Meanwhile, Tom Olsen, a police officer in Nuuk, said Saturday’s protest was the biggest he had ever seen there.
“I hope this can show him that we are together in Europe,” he said. “We will not give up without a fight”
Tillie Martinussen, a former member of Greenland’s parliament, said she hoped the Trump administration would “give up on this crazy idea.”
“They started introducing themselves as our friends and allies, saying they wanted to make Greenland better for us than the Danes,” he said, as others chanted in the background. “And now they are openly threatening us.”
He added that NATO and the effort to preserve Greenland’s autonomy are more important than facing tariffs, but did not rule out the possible economic impact.
“This is a struggle for freedom,” he said. “This is for NATO, for everything the Western Hemisphere has fought for since World War II.”
But when the AP asked Louise Lennert Olsen what she would say to Trump, the 40-year-old nurse from Greenland said she wanted to send a message to the American people instead.
“I would really like them to support our desire for Greenland to be like it is now,” he said while walking in Nuuk. “I hope they stand up to their own president. Because I can’t believe they just stood by and watched and did nothing.”
