PiS demo hits Warsaw streets

16th December 2011

Law and Justice supporters rallied together on Tuesday for a controversial demonstration to mark the 30th anniversary of the imposition of Martial lLaw, and voice their anger over the current government’s European policy.

Some 10,000 took to the streets of Warsaw in a march organised in response to comments made by Radek Sikorski, the foreign minister, about Poland willing to support an EU led by Germany.

Law and Justice (PiS) organisers hoped to make a clear link between December 13, 1981, the day when the communist authorities sent troops onto the streets to crush Solidarity, and the threat to Polish sovereignty they believe is posed by the government’s desire for closer European integration.

“It is hard to imagine a situation more dangerous than when representatives of democratic countries begin to pay homage to other countries,” Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the Law and Justice leader, told the crowd, in reference to the Sikorski speech.

“This is shameful and is both an abuse and violation of the constitution,” he continued. “We as a country cannot agree to this.”

The speech received an enthusiastic response from the demonstrators, many of whom carried placards bearing slogans such as “Poland wake up”.

Mr Kaczynski went on to describe Poland under the Civic Platform (PO) government as a “sick state” and pledged that a Law and Justice government would “defend our sovereignty” to ensure that Poland was at the “forefront of the world”.

But not everybody was happy with the PiS rally. Some opponents accused the PiS leadership of hijacking December 13 - a day in which many in the country remembered Martial Law and paid respects to its victims - for political goals.

“The action was immoral,” Stefan Niesioloski, a PO MP, said in an interview with money.pl. “It was exploiting the victims and the tragedy of martial law for political purposes.”

Not pulling any punches the MP also savaged Jaroslaw Kaczynski for his December 13 speech, declaring it “gibberish”.

“Claiming that Polish independence is threatened is utter nonsense,” he continued. “It would be threatened if Brussels’ actions had failed as then we would have faced a crisis, unemployment and great social unrest.”

---

Readers Comments

---

This article is over 90 days old so comments are now closed