COPENHAGEN: Hundreds of Danish veterans, many of whom fought alongside US troops, staged a silent protest Saturday outside the US Embassy in Copenhagen in response to the Trump administration’s threats to take over Greenland and belittling their combat contributions.
“Denmark has always stood side by side with the USA — and we have showed up in the world’s crisis zones when the USA has asked us to. We feel let down and ridiculed by the Trump Administration, which is deliberately disregarding Denmark’s combat side by side with the USA,” Danish Veterans & Veteran Support said in a statement.
“Words cannot describe how much it hurts us that Denmark’s contributions and sacrifices in the fight for democracy, peace and freedom are being forgotten in the White House,” it said.
Veterans first gathered at a monument honoring fallen Danish service members then began marching to the nearby US Embassy, where they will observe five minutes of silence — one each for Denmark’s army, air force, navy, emergency management agency and police.
Danish veterans are furious at how the White House rhetoric disregards the right to self-determination of Greenland, a territory of NATO ally Denmark. They also strongly object to Trump’s claim that Denmark is incapable of protecting the West’s security interests in the Arctic.
Forty-four Danish soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, the highest per capita death toll among coalition forces. Eight more died in Iraq.
Tensions were further inflamed Tuesday when 44 Danish flags — one for every Danish soldier killed in Afghanistan — that had been placed in front of the embassy were removed by embassy staff.
The State Department later said that, as a general rule, guard staff remove items left behind following demonstrations and other “legitimate exercises of free speech.” The flags were returned to those who left them, it said.
Danish veterans stage protest outside US Embassy
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Danish veterans stage protest outside US Embassy
58 still in hospital following New Year Swiss bar blaze
- Over half of those wounded in the fire in the ski resort of Crans-Montana are in hospital
- 21 injured people were still in Swiss hospitals, including 12 in Lausanne and eight in Zurich
GENEVA: A total of 58 people are still in hospital following the deadly inferno that engulfed a Swiss bar during New Year celebrations, Switzerland’s Keystone-ATS news agency reported Tuesday.
Nearly eight weeks on from the tragedy that killed 41 people and injured 115 others, just over half of those wounded in the fire in the ski resort of Crans-Montana are in hospital.
The National Network for Disaster Medicine told ATS that as of Monday, 21 injured people were still in Swiss hospitals, including 12 in Lausanne and eight in Zurich, two of whom are still in intensive care.
Nine others were in rehabilitation clinics, including eight in Sion, capital of the southwestern Wallis region where Crans-Montana is situated.
A further 28 patients are still receiving treatment abroad: 14 in France, eight in Italy, four in Germany and two in Belgium. Those 28 include 11 Swiss nationals.
Le Constellation, a bar in upscale Crans-Montana, caught fire in the early hours of January 1. Those killed were mostly teenagers; 20 of them were minors.
Prosecutors believe the fire started when champagne bottles with sparklers attached were raised too close to the ceiling in the bar’s basement level, igniting the sound insulation foam.
While those suffering the lightest injuries were discharged in the days immediately following the blaze, on January 5, a total of 83 people were still in hospital.
The bar’s owners, French couple Jacques and Jessica Moretti, are under criminal investigation, facing charges of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence.
Two others are also under criminal investigation: Crans-Montana’s current head of public safety and a former fire safety officer in the town.
Meanwhile former Swiss president Doris Leuthard will head the Beloved Foundation, set up in response to the “outpouring of solidarity” following the tragedy, the Wallis cantonal government said Tuesday.
“The foundation’s primary goal is to provide financial assistance to the bereaved families of the deceased, all those injured, their directly-affected relatives,” plus the firefighters and first responders who dealt with the disaster, it said.
The foundation will also support eventual memorial projects.
Wallis canton has put forward an initial one million Swiss francs ($1.3 million) out of a planned 10 million donation. In total, around 17 million francs have been pledged to the foundation.
