An "American tourist" has been blasted for climbing onto Copenhagen's mermaid statue and getting a bit too friendly."

Dylan Trinkler, 19, witnessed a fellow tourist cuddling the The Little Mermaid statue - despite signs stating "CLIMBING ON THE SCULPTURE IS NOT ALLOWED"."

Bizarre video footage shows the woman perched on the rock base of the statue rubbing her face on it, on Saturday (9/9) .

There are signs surrounding the sculpture to stop people touching the monument and Dylan says spectators were unhappy with the woman's behaviour.

He said: "There was a crowd of about 100 people and everyone was watching on really confused."

"The Danish people there were saying, ‘this is Danish heritage’ and ‘that’s artwork.’ "

"Also, many people were booing and shouting for her to get off."

"She started pretending to make out with the sculpture and people were outraged."

"They started asking her why she was doing it, saying that it was disrespectful, but she just laughed it off."

"When she came down she went to the woman she was there with and started high-fiving and kissing her. It was bizarre."

The sculpture, unveiled in 1913, is made of bronze and granite and sits in the water at Langelinie Pier.

The Little Mermaid is inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's famous fairy tale about a mermaid who gives up everything to be united with a young, handsome prince on land.