Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators packed into the streets of Warsaw on Sunday in the anti-government protests.
Donald Tusk, the leader of Civic Coalition, the largest opposition grouping, claimed that as many as 500,000 attended, making it, in his words, “the largest democratic assembly in the history of democratic Poland”.
Warsaw City hall put the number of demonstrators at half a million although, according to unofficial information from the city’s police, the number attending was around 150,000.
Tusk had called for the march as a protest against „high prices, theft and lies, for free elections and a democratic, European Poland.”
The reasons for the march received fresh impetus this week from controversy surrounding a law establishing a commission to investigate alleged Russian influence over Polish politics.
Critics have expressed concerns that the law threatens the fairness of Poland’s forthcoming general elections this autumn by barring people such as Tusk from running from office.
The date of June 4 was also chosen because it is the 34th anniversary of the first partial-free elections in Poland, which paved the way for the country’s return to democracy.
Addressing thousands of people in Warsaw’s Castle Square at the conclusion of the march, Tusk said: “Why did half a million Poles take to the streets today? Because we feel that for years Poland has been ruled by people who cannot love, who have falsified the word solidarity and who take away our freedom every day, piece by piece.”
„Democracy dies in silence,” he continued. „From today there will be no more silence. Today you raised your voice on behalf of 38 million Polish women and men, you raised your voice for democracy, so that it does not die, despite the daily attacks by PiS, Kaczynski (the governing Law and Justice party and its leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski – PAP) and this government on its foundations. No, democracy in Poland will not die. There will be no silence. We will scream loudly. „
Earlier Rafal Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw and a high-profile member of Civic Platform, the largest opposition party, told the crowd that „a community of free and brave people” needs to be rebuilt.
„Wake up, Poland! Especially in times when the authorities are trying to destroy democracy, politicise all independent institutions, when in practice they lead us out of the European Union or put us on the margins, that’s when we talk about freedom,” he said.
„We, the nation, all of you from all over Poland, have the right to clearly say what kind of Poland we want. We want a democratic, open and European Poland,” Trzaskowski added.
But Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister, made light of the demonstration, saying it had been organised by old political “foxes” and was far from the being the spontaneous demonstration they had apparently called for.
„It makes me laugh a bit when old foxes, who have been in politics for many, many years, organise an anti-government march and present it as a spontaneous civil protest,” he added.
Morawiecki said that he had heard from local government officials „how everything looks from the inside out.”
„A directive came from the PO headquarters that all their presidents and mayors should bring (to Warsaw - PAP) as many PO activists, employees of municipal companies, local government officials, etc,” he said.
Morawiecki added that he had nothing against the idea of a grassroots march, but „nothing is happening from the grassroots here”.
PAP, mk
Publikacja dostępna na stronie: https://wpolityce.pl/facts-from-poland/649555-opposition-protest-in-warsaw
