Warsaw
PiS wants to protest against Poland’s government
Supporters of the Law and Justice party (PiS) protest against the arrest of the two MPs. photo
© Rafal Guz/PAP/dpa
Poland’s largest opposition party is mobilizing with a demonstration. The protest is also directed against the imprisonment of two prominent PiS politicians. The conflict could get even worse.
In Poland, supporters of the national conservative opposition party want PiS demonstrate today against the center-left government of Donald Tusk. The party says it expects up to 40,000 people to attend the “free Poles protest” in front of parliament in Warsaw. According to Polish media reports, PiS has organized bus tours to the capital for its supporters from rural areas.
The demonstration could further fuel the ongoing conflict between Tusk’s coalition government, which has been in office since mid-December, and the long-time ruling party PiS, which was voted out of office.
The protest was originally intended to be directed against the restructuring of public media. A few weeks ago, Tusk’s government began restructuring the TVP television station, Polish radio and the PAP news agency. She accuses them of spreading party propaganda in recent years under the PiS government. International organizations had also criticized the one-sided reporting by the public media in Poland.
Arrest of two PiS politicians
However, the dispute over the arrest of two legally convicted PiS politicians has shifted the focus of the demonstration. Former Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski and his former State Secretary Maciej Wasik were arrested and taken to prison on Tuesday after initially seeking protection in the presidential palace from Head of State Andrzej Duda.
The PiS describes the two as “political prisoners”. Duda, who comes from the PiS ranks, announced on Wednesday that he would fight for her release. Kaminski went on hunger strike on the first day of his detention.
Kaminski and Wasik were sentenced to two years in prison for abuse of office in an appeal by a Warsaw district court in December and were due to begin their sentences. Duda pardoned the two after an initial trial in 2015. However, the Supreme Court declared this pardon to be unlawful because the appeal process was still ongoing at the time. Duda emphasized again yesterday that, in his opinion, the pardon was still valid. He called on PiS supporters to remain calm during their demonstration in Warsaw.