Thousands marched on Sunday in Warsaw and other Polish cities to protest the country’s right-wing government, the latest demonstrations after a high court ruled to tighten the country’s already restrictive abortion law.
Sunday’s protests coincided with the 39th anniversary of the 1981 martial law crackdown by Poland’s communist regime.
Many Poles accuse the current government of acting more and more like that authoritarian regime by disregarding the civil liberties of citizens.
Photo: Reuters
Due to a ban on gatherings by more than five people amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the marches were organized as “spontaneous walks” and the slogan was: “We are going for freedom. We are going for everything!”
The protests were organized by the Women’s Strike, a group behind recent mass nationwide protests. Others also joined in, including farmers and entrepreneurs angry at the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The weeks of protests have morphed into the largest protest movement in Poland since communism fell three decades ago.
An Oct. 22 ruling by the Polish constitutional court to ban abortions of fetuses with congenital defects, even when the fetus has no chance of survival at birth, sparked the protests, which have now grown to include other grievances.
“We are no longer fighting just for women’s rights, but for everyone’s rights. What is happening at this point is dramatic,” said Adrianna Gluchowska, a protester joined by her father.
The protesters gathered at a central intersection and began marching to the home of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the head of the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS).
Riot police blocked the protesters, forcing them to take another route along the Vistula River to reach Kaczynski’s home in the northern Zoliborz district.
Police announced on loudspeakers that the protest was illegal, saying: “We have an epidemic.”
“We have an epidemic of PiS,” the protesters replied: “We are overthrowing the government!”
Many carried EU and rainbow flags to show their support for liberal Western values.
Kaczynski’s apartment building was surrounded by hundreds of police officers in riot gear. Several people dressed in communist-era militia costumes managed to get near Kaczynski’s home and were removed by police.
Smaller protests also were held in dozens of other cities, including Gdansk, Krakow, Poznan, Lodz and Szczecin.
Disgruntled farmers angry also protested overnight, leaving a large mound of eggs, potatoes and a dead pig in front of Kaczynski’s home.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
‘PERSONAL MISTAKES’: Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison A southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday. Eileen Wang (王愛琳), mayor of Arcadia, was charged last month with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favorable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law. The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
HELP DENIED? The US Department of State said that the Cuban leadership refuses to allow the US to provide aid to Cubans, ‘who are in desperate need of assistance’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that Cuba’s leadership must change, as Washington renewed an offer of US$100 million in aid if the communist nation agrees to cooperate. Cuba has been suffering severe economic tumult led by an energy shortage that plunged 65 percent of the country into darkness on Tuesday. Cuba’s leaders have blamed US sanctions, but Rubio, a Cuban American and critic of the government established by Fidel Castro, said the system was to blame, including corruption by the military. “It’s a broken, nonfunctional economy, and it’s impossible to change it. I wish it were different,” he told
RSS