The Polish president, prime minister and other top officials on Sunday led an Independence Day march as part of a day of centenary celebrations, trailed by a huge crowd.
More than 250,000 people marched in Warsaw to mark the 100th anniversary of Poland’s rebirth as an independent state at the end of World War I, police said.
Polish President Andrzej Duda, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and the leader of the conservative ruling party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, walked in a crowd fronted by soldiers carrying a huge banner that read: “For You Poland.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
Walking a small distance behind them was another crowd, many of them burning firecrackers and flares, creating flashes of red light and smoke.
Most in that contingent carried national white-and-red flags, but some held flags of the National Radical Camp, one of the main march organizers.
There were also a few flags for Forza Nuova, an Italian group whose leader, Roberto Fiore, describes himself as fascist.
One of the march organizers, Krzysztof Bosak, said that Forza Nuova is a group of nationalists that is in touch with the Polish group.
Among the slogans that participants shouted were “USA, empire of evil” and “Poland, white and Catholic.”
Members of the All-Polish Youth group burned an EU flag. An EU flag was also burned at another nationalist rally in Wroclaw. The city’s mayor dissolved the march during speeches toward its end.
Sunday’s was by far the largest Independence Day march to date.
Government spokeswoman Joanna Kopcinska said it was “the biggest march of free Poles in a free Poland.”
This year, in honor of the centennial, state officials sought to hold one big government-led march for Sunday’s ceremonies. At first, negotiations broke down over requests for groups to leave controversial banners at home, but an agreement on a joint march was reached on Friday.
“Let this be our joint march, let it be a march for everyone, a march where everyone wants to be and feels good, marching for Poland,” Duda said at the start of the march.
Duda and the government faced criticism from liberal opposition politicians for their willingness to negotiate with nationalists. After some individuals showed up with extremist emblems, the state officials — surrounded by security — appeared to try to keep some distance from the nationalists, marching ahead of them on the same route.
Throughout the day, observances, Masses, marathons and fireworks were held in cities and small towns to commemorate the nation’s statehood regained at the end of World War I, after 123 years of foreign rule.
The national flag fluttered from buildings, buses and cars, while dignitaries and regular citizens placed flowers at memorials to the father of Polish independence, Marshal Jozef Pilsudski. The historic Sigismund Bell, reserved only for the most important national events, rang out over Krakow.
March participant Bartlomiej Mazur, 23, who traveled 320km to the capital, said he wanted to show that “Poland is a strong, proud nation — we have freedom and we have the right to manifest our feelings and our pride in our country.”
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