Can a protest ever have been so polite?
In the biting wind outside the Danish embassy, protesters and the subject of the protest congratulated each other on how warm their hands were.
"I hope you guys are keeping warm," the deputy head of the Danish mission in Canberra told Bob Brown and his band of environmentalists.
About 50 of them were there to protest at the arrest by the Danish authorities of Paul Watson, the founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which was a thorn in the side of the Japanese whaling industry with its direct action against whaling ships on the high seas.
In 2014, the Australian government won a case in the International Court of Justice against Japan over its whaling.
But on July 21 this year, Captain Watson (to give him his formal title) was arrested in Greenland (which is part of Denmark). From there, he faces extradition to Japan.
"We're calling on the government of Denmark to free Paul Watson who's the hero of saving Australia's whales. There's no single person on this planet who did more to save thousands of whales from being harpooned by the Japanese whale killers earlier this century."
Mr Brown said that an international court had ruled that the Japanese whalers were breaking the law so extradition to Japan would be handing the law-abider over to the law-breakers.
"It was Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd, which was upholding the law. Now they've got him in prison and Denmark's working out whether to extradite him to Japan where he'd spend years in solitary confinement," the former leader of the Greens said.
He handed a letter for the Danish Prime Minister to the deputy head of the Danish embassy in Canberra, Lene Schumacher. He also handed the Danish embassy a copy of his book, Planet Earth.
"Watson's extradition to Japan would harpoon Denmark's reputation as a global green leader," was the message.
Captain Watson, who is in his early 70s, was arrested in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. The Japanese authorities have issued an international arrest warrant for him, which is the reason why the Greenland Police were ready to arrest him on arrival in Nuuk, Greenland's law enforcement agency said.
Greenland runs its own internal affairs but not its foreign policy, which is the preserve of Denmark. A decision on extradition is likely to be made in Copenhagen.
