Thousands marched silently to the US embassy in Copenhagen after Denmark’s Veterans’ Association organized a protest against recent comments by US President Donald Trump. In a television interview last week Trump suggested non‑US NATO troops in Afghanistan had kept back from front lines, a remark that angered many allies and amplified tensions already sparked by his aggressive interest in Greenland. Police estimated at least 10,000 participants, while organizers put the turnout between 8,000 and 10,000. Despite subzero temperatures, protesters assembled at Kastellet, held a short ceremony at the monument to fallen soldiers, and then walked about 1.5 kilometres to the embassy. The event was deliberately silent and used the label #NoWords; Soren Knudsen, vice president of the veterans’ association, said they had no words to express how they felt. Many marchers carried Danish flags or wore military uniforms. Former UN soldier Henning Andersen called Trump’s comments deeply insulting, noting comrades wounded in Afghanistan continue to suffer. Denmark lost 44 troops in Afghanistan, the highest per capita death toll among coalition partners. Tensions rose earlier when embassy staff removed 44 small flags placed in embassy planters by protesters, each bearing the name of a Danish soldier killed in Afghanistan. The embassy apologised, saying there was no ill intent and affirming respect for Danish veterans, while noting the planters are embassy property and the placement had not been coordinated. The US ambassador later placed 44 Danish flags in the flowerbeds, and an extra 52 flags were set in the beds bearing the names of 44 soldiers killed in Afghanistan and eight who died in Iraq. A minute of silence was observed outside the embassy.
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