Danish veterans have criticised the US embassy in Copenhagen for removing national flags put up in front of the mission to honour Danish soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
The embassy later backtracked, telling Danish media on Wednesday it would not have taken the flags down if it had been aware of the intention behind them.
US President Donald Trump last week angered some allies by downplaying the role of non-US NATO troops in Afghanistan, saying in an interview that NATO troops "stayed a little back, a little off the front lines".
In response, 44 Danish flags, which carried the names of the 44 Danish soldiers killed in Afghanistan, were put up on Tuesday in flower beds outside the US embassy in Copenhagen.
A video published by Danish media showed embassy staff taking down the flags on Wednesday morning.
The embassy originally told Danish media that it had removed the flags because they had been put up without coordination with the embassy.
But politicians and veterans' representatives condemned the move.
"This was an unnecessary action, which has been perceived as a provocation by many Danes," Carsten Rasmussen, chairman of the Danish Veteran Association, told AFP.
Many felt Trump's comments represented a "betrayal" of their brothers in arms, he added.
‘Completely unacceptable’
Jens-Kristian Lutken, a Copenhagen city official representing the Liberal Party (Venstre), called the embassy's move and the questioning of Danish efforts in Afghanistan "completely unacceptable".
"We have fought alongside the Americans in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, and we have lost many soldiers in Afghanistan per capita, as many as the Americans have lost," he told broadcaster TV2.
Following the news of the removal, new flags were put up on Wednesday, and the embassy told the Berlingske newspaper that they would be left in place.
By Wednesday afternoon, hundreds of small Danish flags had been put up in the flowerbeds, TV2 reported.
"If the American ambassador is fully aware of what is going on in Denmark, then they will know what this is all about," Rasmussen told AFP about the original move to take down the flags.
"They will know that it seems like a provocation."
The Danish Veteran Association is also planning a silent march towards the embassy on Saturday.
