New plaque outrages cross defenders

14th August 2010

An attempt to pacify a heated argument over the future of a cross, erected in honour of the Smolensk victims outside the presidential palace, by placing a memorial plaque appeared to backfire when it became the target of intense criticism.

Explaining that after the crash Poles gathered around a cross to mourn the loss of their president and the other victims, the plaque was unveiled in a brief ceremony on Thursday morning.

The cross it mentions still stands and has become the subject a of a series of demonstrations by those who want it uprooted and taken to a church, and Catholic conservatives, described as its “defenders”, who want it to stay until a permanent memorial is built.
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