Panama City, Panama - Protesters in Panama City on Tuesday burned an image of President-elect Donald Trump following his threat to take control of the Panama Canal.

Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the US embassy chanting "Trump, animal, leave the canal alone" and "Get out, invading gringo," as about 20 police officers guarded the compound.

Some in the crowd carried banners reading "Donald Trump, public enemy of Panama."

"The (Panamanian) people have shown that they are capable of recovering their territory and we are not going to give it up again," protester Jorge Guzman told AFP.

Donald Trump Trump addresses suggestions Musk could take over as president: "I'm safe, you know why?"

The canal, inaugurated in 1914, was built by the US but handed to Panama on December 31, 1999, under treaties signed some two decades earlier by then-US president Jimmy Carter and Panamanian nationalist leader Omar Torrijos.

"Panama is a sovereign territory and the canal here is Panamanian," said Saul Mendez, the leader of a construction union that jointly organized the protest.

"Donald Trump and his imperial delusion cannot claim even a single centimeter of land in Panama," he added.

Trump on Saturday slammed what he called unfair fees for US ships passing through the Panama Canal and complained about China's influence.

If Panama could not ensure "the secure, efficient and reliable operation" of the channel, "then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question," he said.

The status of the canal is non-negotiable, President José Raúl Mulino said in a statement Monday signed alongside former leaders of the Central American country.