Demonstrations: Protest in Warsaw against Poland’s government

demonstrations
Protest in Warsaw against Poland’s government

Side by side: Donald Tusk (3rd from left) and Lech Walesa (2nd from right). photo

© Pawel Supernak/PAP/dpa

More than 100,000 people are protesting in Warsaw against the policies of the national-conservative government. Lech Walesa is also among the demonstrators.

The demonstrators are crowded in front of the government building in the center of Warsaw. They wave red and white Polish and blue European flags, they drum, whistle, blow horns and vent their anger at the national conservative PiS government.

Maria Kopycka also has a drum with her. The 70-year-old has decorated her backpack with a white plush duck – an allusion to the “drake” (kaczor), as PiS opponents call party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski. “I’m pissed off,” says the pensioner, who traveled to Warsaw from Czestochowa in Silesia. “I feel that our country is falling back into totalitarian times. And I don’t want that.”

Many who followed the call of former Polish Prime Minister and opposition leader Donald Tusk to protest are like her. The organizers speak of half a million participants, the PAP news agency, citing unofficial information from the police, reports between 100,000 and 150,000.

EU and NATO member Poland has proven to be a reliable partner and steadfast supporter of Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression. But inside, many see authoritarian tendencies in the PiS government. Concern about the continued existence of democracy is growing.

A very special day

June 4th is a symbolic date in Poland: in 1989 the first partially free elections were held on this day. While 65 percent of the seats were reserved for the communist party, voters were free to choose the rest of the deputies – it was a triumph for the democracy movement and the Solidarnosc union. The elections in Poland also heralded the beginning of political change in Europe until the fall of the wall.

The hero from back then also came to the demonstration in Warsaw: Lech Walesa, Nobel Peace Prize winner, former President of Poland and former head of Solidarnosc. As the 79-year-old makes his way through the crowd side by side with Donald Tusk, the crowd gets so big that the bodyguards have a hard time.

The next parliamentary elections are due in Poland in autumn, and many fear that the national conservatives, who have been in power since 2015, could cling to power and set the course so that they cannot be replaced by the opposition after the election. “If we don’t resist, the PiS could manipulate the elections,” believes Szymon Czechowicz (20) from Rzeszow in eastern Poland. “But when they see how many people are taking to the streets, they won’t dare.”

A controversial law

PiS has just fueled fears of election rigging with a controversial law signed by President Andrzej Duda on Monday. It provides for the establishment of a commission of inquiry into Russian influence. The law seems tailor-made to discredit opposition leader Donald Tusk during the election campaign or even to ban him from political life. Polish media speak of a “Lex Tusk” – a law aimed at Tusk. The commission is supposed to examine whether public officials have made decisions under Moscow’s influence in the past 15 years that endanger the country’s security.

Tusk was the Polish head of government from 2007 to 2014 and is considered the fiercest political opponent of the powerful PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski. The 66-year-old from Gdańsk maintained close contact with then Chancellor Angela Merkel and also tried to improve Poland’s relationship with Russia. The PiS therefore alternately accuses him of being a lackey of Germany or the Kremlin.

Eva Olof is standing at the edge of the demonstration train. The 88-year-old from Szczecin has found a place in the shade and leans on her daughter-in-law. “We all have to stand together in defense of democracy,” she says resolutely.

dpa

source site-3