The Dannebrog is once again erected in front of the US embassy in Copenhagen

On Wednesday morning, Danish flags were again placed in the flower beds in front of the American Embassy in Copenhagen.

This happens after embassy guards on Tuesday removed flags that veterans had put up in memory of the Danish soldiers who fell in Afghanistan.

The embassy itself did not put up the flags, but the embassy states that it will allow Danish flags to remain.

In a written response, the embassy also says that there was no malicious intent in removing the flags on Tuesday.

Normally, the Danish authorities are notified of planned demonstrations and they notify the embassy, it says.

If that had been the case, the management would have instructed the guards to leave the flags up, the embassy further writes.

We at the embassy have only the deepest respect for Danish veterans and Danish soldiers' sacrifices for our common security, the embassy writes.

There were 44 Danish flags that were placed in the flower beds on Tuesday.

They were in memory of the 44 Danish soldiers who fell in Afghanistan during the almost 20-year-long military effort.

Maja Schlein Staal put up the flags on Wednesday. She tells Ritzau that she was a conscript and that the flags were put up in solidarity with the Danish veterans and fallen soldiers.

"They have put their lives on the line for the democracy and society we believe in. They deserve more respect than people saying they stood behind the front lines and didn't give 100 percent," she says in a written comment.

She has purchased between 500 and 600 flags, which she and passersby have placed in the flower beds, she says.

The embassy's removal of the flags on Tuesday met with great criticism from politicians from Wednesday morning.

The Municipality of Copenhagen has stated that the embassy itself owns and maintains the flower beds on the sidewalk, which are set up as part of the building's anti-terrorism security.

The embassy was therefore within its rights to remove the flags, but the decision has been called disrespectful by several politicians.

The attention to the Danish effort in Afghanistan has come after US President Donald Trump said in an interview last week that NATO soldiers in Afghanistan "held back a little bit, a little bit away from the front lines".

The 44 flags that were raised on Tuesday had the names of every Danish soldier who fell in Afghanistan inscribed on them.

That is why the Speaker of the Danish Parliament, Søren Gade (V), is surprised that someone would think of removing them, the former Minister of Defense tells TV 2.

I thought it was a mistake. I couldn't even get it into my head that someone would remove the Dannebrog with the name of a deceased soldier.

However, he adds that he accepts the embassy's explanation and that it is positive that the new flags are allowed to remain.