Anxious about the well-being of their Ukrainian refugees, city mayors across Poland were refusing the government’s instructions to sound air raid sirens yesterday as part of memorial observances for Poland’s 2010 presidential plane crash.
The right-wing central government wanted the sirens to go off at 6:41am GMT, the exact time the plane crashed in Russia 12 years ago, killing then-Polish president Lech Kaczynski and 95 other prominent Poles.
Kaczynski was the twin of Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is the ruling Law and Justice party’s leader.
Photo: EPA-EFE
However, city mayors, who represent local governments, were refusing to do that, saying it would be an unnecessary trauma for people — especially children — who recently fled their homes at the sound of air raid sirens and headed to shelters to avoid Russian bombings since Russia began attacking Ukraine on Feb. 24.
More than 2.5 million refugees from Ukraine have sought security in Poland and are staying at reception centers or with private people. Many need psychological assistance to deal with their trauma.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Saturday that the 2010 plane crash was a national tragedy and its victims merit every form of commemoration.
Text messages were being sent to refugees to explain that the sirens mean no danger, he said.
Amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Polish government is reviving its controversial allegation that the crash on April 10, 2010, which killed the president, the first lady and other leading political figures, was a Kremlin assassination plan. Yesterday’s observances were being given special attention.
However, local governments, often run by opposition politicians, said that the use of air raid sirens for the anniversary was “extremely irresponsible.”
The sirens also bring frightful associations to many Poles who experienced World War II as small children or watched documentaries of the country’s destruction during the war.
“We will not sound the sirens on the anniversary,” said Rafal Bruski, mayor of the central city of Bydgoszcz. “I have seen too many children terrified by war.”
Bruski said he has grown accustomed to many “unwise” decisions by the current government, “but there are limits to stupidity.”
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