Thousands of people came to the traditional march of nationalists in the Polish capital today for the Independence Day. Many participants held red and white flags, others lit flares.
The demonstration started in the afternoon in the city center and should end at the National Stadium. Although there is still no official information on participation, the organizers are talking about “the largest patriotic gathering in Europe”, the DPA agency reported today.
Opposition leader Donald Tusk called for moderation in a video message for Independence Day on the X social network. “Anyone who uses the word nation to divide and sow hatred is against the nation,” Tusk, 66, said. His Civic Coalition (KO) has a majority in the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, after the parliamentary elections in October, along with two other parties. However, the current Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki from the ruling national conservative party Law and Justice (PiS) won the first mandate to form the government.
On the occasion of the holiday, PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski warned against the alleged dominance of Germany in the European Union. “We Poles want to be free, we want to be independent and we don’t want to submit to the Germans,” the PAP agency quoted the 74-year-old Kaczyński as saying. According to him, a “concrete plan” has already been drawn up, which, if implemented by the EU, would lead to the loss of sovereignty and the “destruction of the Polish state”.
Independence Day commemorates the event of November 11, 1918, when the founder of the modern Polish state, Józef Pilsudski, returned from prison in Magdeburg to Warsaw and took over the supreme command of the Polish troops. Poland gained its independence after the First World War, before which its territory was divided between Prussia, Austria-Hungary and Russia for more than a century. (ČTK)
Tags: traditional march nationalists Independence Day place Warsaw today
