Years of conservative rule ended in Denmark with the 2011 election of Social Democratic Party leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt, whose coalition also included the Social Liberal Party and Socialist People’s Party. Two years later, the Socialist People’s Party left the coalition over the decision to sell 18 percent of DONG Energy, the nation’s largest energy company, to investment bank Goldman Sachs.

Finance minister Bjarne Corydon backed the decision, arguing that the move makes green energy a financially sustainable option, while former Social Democrat premier Poul Nyrup Rasmussen opposed the sale, calling Goldman a “shady partner.”

Protesters threw the image of a vampire squid over the statue of a former king, a nod to Matt Taibbi’s remark in Rolling Stone magazine that Goldman was a “great vampire squid” feeding on cash instead of blood. Read more “Danish Energy Sale to Goldman Sachs Meets Resistance”