Huge pro-democracy protests in Warsaw led by Poland’s opposition

Poland’s opposition led a massive pro-democracy demonstration in Warsaw on Sunday, inspired by widespread public unease over a government-created commission that is reportedly set to investigate pro-Russian politicians and possibly ban them from office. ready for.

The leader of the main Civic Platform opposition party, Donald Tusk, addressed the crowd, along with Lech Walesa, former president of Poland and leader of the Solidarity movement that helped topple Communist rule in the 1980s.

The demonstration was planned to mark the anniversary of Poland’s first post-communism election in 1989, but the vote was spurred by a political tussle over the anti-Russia commission, which President Andrzej Duda swiftly retreated into a law last Monday. was signed before. Proposing various amendments to Parliament for review.

Critics have dubbed the law “Lex Tusk” because its highest-profile target could be Tusk, the former prime minister who is leading a centre-right opposition campaign to win this autumn’s fiercely contested national election .

Many protesters traveled from outside the capital to join the Warsaw rally, some on buses provided by Civic Platform. Smaller demonstrations took place on Sunday in other Polish cities as well as in Berlin and Paris.

“We cannot thank Duda for protecting our constitution, but we can at least thank him for mobilizing the people and convincing us that our democracy is indeed in danger,” Joanna Stankiewicz said. Who traveled for one and a half hours. Lodz to Warsaw.

The commission was proposed by the ruling Law and Justice party, or PiS, whose founder Jarosław Kaczyński has repeatedly accused Tusk of being too friendly to Moscow. The PiS-led government claims the commission will help defend Poland against Russian meddling during the election campaign and at a time when Warsaw has sought Western support for Kiev in its war against Moscow.

But one of Sunday’s protesters, engineer Piotr Jedrzejewski, said “a government that is claiming to be protecting us from Russia actually wants to make Poland a model country similar to Russia or Belarus”, where people were detained. can be arrested and arbitrarily sanctioned for speaking against them. Government.

Many protesters waved Polish and European Union flags, as well as signs mocking Kaczyński and Duda and the ruling PiS party. “Don’t piss on Poland,” one poster read in English. Bartosz Arlukowicz, a politician from the Civic Platform, estimated that half a million people participated in the Warsaw protest, but this number was not immediately confirmed by the police or other independent sources.

While the so-called Lex Tusk has further polarized Polish society and given new momentum to parties opposing PiS, some protesters said their priority was other issues that have divided Poland, notably access to abortion and rights of the LGBTQ community.

Pola Zarudzka, a student wearing a pro-abortion T-shirt, said she had participated in previous demonstrations to defend women’s rights. “What I think is different now is that there is a huge sense of anger about everything this government has done, and not just against women,” she said.

In his address to the crowd, Tusk suggested that the next election should be considered by voters to be as important as the one that ushered in Poland’s return to democracy in 1989. He drew a parallel between the fight against communism and the resistance to the PiS government that came to power in 2015, when it defeated the Civic Platform in an election.

Teacher Ilona Tutoj said she considers this year’s election more important than recent past votes. “In terms of respect for our constitution and democracy, things are getting worse year by year,” she said.

Poland’s opposition led a massive pro-democracy demonstration in Warsaw on Sunday, inspired by widespread public unease over a government-created commission that is reportedly set to investigate pro-Russian politicians and possibly ban them from office. ready for.

The leader of the main Civic Platform opposition party, Donald Tusk, addressed the crowd, along with Lech Walesa, former president of Poland and leader of the Solidarity movement that helped topple Communist rule in the 1980s.

The demonstration was planned to mark the anniversary of Poland’s first post-communism election in 1989, but the vote was spurred by a political tussle over the anti-Russia commission, which President Andrzej Duda swiftly retreated into a law last Monday. was signed before. Proposing various amendments to Parliament for review.

Critics have dubbed the law “Lex Tusk” because its highest-profile target could be Tusk, the former prime minister who is leading a centre-right opposition campaign to win this autumn’s fiercely contested national election .

Many protesters traveled from outside the capital to join the Warsaw rally, some on buses provided by Civic Platform. Smaller demonstrations took place on Sunday in other Polish cities as well as in Berlin and Paris.

“We cannot thank Duda for protecting our constitution, but we can at least thank him for mobilizing the people and convincing us that our democracy is indeed in danger,” Joanna Stankiewicz said. Who traveled for one and a half hours. Lodz to Warsaw.

The commission was proposed by the ruling Law and Justice party, or PiS, whose founder Jarosław Kaczyński has repeatedly accused Tusk of being too friendly to Moscow. The PiS-led government claims the commission will help defend Poland against Russian meddling during the election campaign and at a time when Warsaw has sought Western support for Kiev in its war against Moscow.

But one of Sunday’s protesters, engineer Piotr Jedrzejewski, said “a government that is claiming to be protecting us from Russia actually wants to make Poland a model country similar to Russia or Belarus”, where people were detained. can be arrested and arbitrarily sanctioned for speaking against them. Government.

Many protesters waved Polish and European Union flags, as well as signs mocking Kaczyński and Duda and the ruling PiS party. “Don’t piss on Poland,” one poster read in English. Bartosz Arlukowicz, a politician from the Civic Platform, estimated that half a million people participated in the Warsaw protest, but this number was not immediately confirmed by the police or other independent sources.

While the so-called Lex Tusk has further polarized Polish society and given new momentum to parties opposing PiS, some protesters said their priority was other issues that have divided Poland, notably access to abortion and rights of the LGBTQ community.

Pola Zarudzka, a student wearing a pro-abortion T-shirt, said she had participated in previous demonstrations to defend women’s rights. “What I think is different now is that there is a huge sense of anger about everything this government has done, and not just against women,” she said.

In his address to the crowd, Tusk suggested that the next election should be considered by voters to be as important as the one that ushered in Poland’s return to democracy in 1989. He drew a parallel between the fight against communism and the resistance to the PiS government that came to power in 2015, when it defeated the Civic Platform in an election.

Teacher Ilona Tutoj said she considers this year’s election more important than recent past votes. “In terms of respect for our constitution and democracy, things are getting worse year by year,” she said.