American divisions spill into Nuuk, reshaping diplomacy and local life
NUUK, Greenland – The inauguration of a new US consulate in Greenland’s capital on Thursday drew large protests, turning what Washington had hoped would be the culmination of a week-long charm offensive into a public relations setback.
Around 1,000 people gathered outside the new 3,000-square-metre compound in Nuuk, waving Greenlandic flags and chanting “Kalaallit Nunaat, kalaallit pigaat!” (“Greenland belongs to Greenlanders”) and “USA go home.” Protesters quickly nicknamed the building “Trump’s Tower” and, at one point, turned their backs on US officials before dispersing.
“Listen to us. We are not for sale, and we are not a military object,” organiser and activist Aqqalukkuluk Fontain told the crowd. “We will not accept threats from the United States over our self-determination.”
The protests underscored the backlash facing Washington’s increasingly assertive Arctic diplomacy under US President Donald Trump, whose administration has renewed its focus on Greenland as a strategic and geopolitical prize.
