Thousands of Danes protest against the government's plan to abolish a public holiday to help fund the defence budget, amid the war in Ukraine. The left-right government coalition, in power since December and led by the Social Democratic prime minister Mette Frederiksen, plans to scrap the religious holiday known as Great Prayer Day, observed since the 17th century. The government wants to get rid of the public holiday and use the money to raise the defence budget to NATO's target of 2% of GDP by 2030, instead of 2033 as previously planned. Organisers of Sunday's demonstration, outside the Christiansborg Palace parliament building in central Copenhagen, say that there were over 50,000 attendees, including members of several unions, many of whom were ferried in from across Denmark by around 70 buses. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES