Thousands march in Greenland to support Arctic island in the face of US President Trump’s threats to take it over

Nuuk, Greenland — Thousands of Greenlanders walked cautiously through snow and ice to take a stand against US President Donald Trump on Saturday. They raised protest signs, waved their national flag and chanted “Greenland is not for sale” in support of their autonomy in the face of growing threats of US takeover.

As soon as they completed their journey from downtown Nuuk, Greenland’s small capital, to the US consulate in rain and near-freezing temperatures, news broke: Trump announced, from his golf course in sunny Florida, that he would impose a 10% import tax starting in February on goods from eight European countries because of their opposition to American control of Greenland.

Read: Trump announces tariffs on countries that oppose US control of Greenland

“I thought this day couldn’t get any worse, but it just did,” a distraught Malik Dollerup-Schippel said after The Associated Press informed him of Trump’s announcement. “It shows he has no remorse for any kind of person now.”

Trump has long said he believes the United States should own the strategically located and mineral-rich island, an autonomous region of Greenland. Trump intensified his calls a day after the military operation to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this month.

Dolrup Schiebel, a 21-year-old Greenlandic, and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens Fredrik Nielsen were among what others described as the island’s largest protest, attracting nearly a quarter of Nuuk’s population. Others organized solidarity rallies and rallies across the Danish kingdom, including in Copenhagen, as well as in the capital of Canada’s northernmost Inuit-ruled territory of Nunavut.

“This is important for the whole world,” said Danish demonstrator Elise Ritchie, carrying the flag of Denmark and Greenland in Copenhagen. “There are many small countries. And 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 Greenlander, said it was important to bring her children to the march “to show that they are allowed to speak.”

“We want to keep our country, our culture and our family safe,” she said.

Her 9-year-old daughter, Alaska, designed her own sign that said, “Greenland is not for sale.” The girl said that her teachers discussed this controversy and taught them about NATO at school.

“They tell us how to stand up if we get bullied by another country or something like that,” she said.

Meanwhile, Tom Olsen, a police officer in Nuuk, said Saturday’s protest was the largest he had ever seen there.

“I hope it shows him that we stand together in Europe,” he said. “We won’t go down without a fight.”

Tilly Martinussen, a former member of Greenland’s parliament, said she hoped the Trump administration would abandon “this crazy idea.”

“They started promoting themselves as our friends and allies, and that they want to make Greenland better for us than the Danes,” she said as others chanted in the background. “And now they are clearly threatening us.”

She added that pushing to preserve NATO and Greenland’s autonomy was more important than confronting tariffs, although she added that she could not rule out the potential economic impact.

“This is a fight for freedom,” she said. “It’s for NATO, and for everything the Western Hemisphere has been fighting for since World War II.”

But when the AP asked Louise Lennert Olsen what she would say to Trump, the 40-year-old Greenlandic nurse said she wanted to send a message to the American people.

“I would really like them to support our desire to be the Greenland we are now,” she said as she walked through Nuuk. He added, “I hope they stand against their president. Because I cannot believe that they stand and watch and do nothing.”

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Niemann reported from Copenhagen, Denmark, and Dazio from Berlin. Associated Press journalists Koyun Ha and Evgeniy Maloletka in Nuuk, Greenland contributed to this report.