Polish nationalists maintain Independence Day march in Warsaw after voters reject their worldview
WARSAW. Poland — Tens of 1000’s of individuals walked by Warsaw on Saturday in a march organized by nationalist teams as Poland celebrated its Independence Day vacation, 105 years after the nation regained its statehood on the finish of World War I.
Participants carried Poland’s white-and-red flag and a few burned flares as they marched alongside a route main from the town middle to the National Stadium.
While many patriotic occasions happen throughout the nation of 38 million on Nov. 11, the yearly Independence March has come to dominate information protection as a result of it has typically been marred by xenophobic slogans and violence.
This 12 months’s occasion was attended by some 40,000 and handed off peacefully, the Warsaw mayor, Rafal Trzaskowski, mentioned.
It got here as nationalist forces have seen their worldview rejected by voters. In a nationwide election final month, voters turned out in big numbers to embrace centrist, average conservative and left-wing events after eight years of rule by a nationalist conservative occasion that was at odds with the European Union.
The far-right Confederation occasion, which is ideologically linked to the Independence March, gained simply 18 seats within the 460-seat Sejm, the Polish parliament. Meanwhile, Law and Justice, the ruling right-wing nationalist occasion whose leaders joined the march up to now, gained probably the most votes however fell wanting a parliamentary majority.
Donald Tusk, the profitable coalition’s candidate to be the subsequent prime minister, appealed for nationwide unity in a message on X, stressing that the vacation is one which belongs to all Poles.
“If someone uses the word nation to divide and sow hatred, he is acting against the nation,” mentioned Tusk, who didn’t be a part of the march. “Today our nation is celebrating independence. The whole nation, all of Poland.”
The Independence Day vacation celebrates the restoration of Poland’s nationwide sovereignty in 1918, on the finish of World War I and after 123 years of rule by Prussia, Austria and Russia.
“For us, Poles, this day of Nov. 11 is a day of joy, a day of pride, a day of glory, a day when we remember with emotion that after 123 years of non-existence, our country, Poland, was reborn,” mentioned President Andrzej Duda in a speech on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Duda warned that Russian imperialism as soon as once more threatens not simply Ukraine however the wider area.
“Russian imperialism will go further: it will want to seize more nations, taking away their freedom and their states,” Duda mentioned.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy despatched Poland a message on X, previously Twitter, telling Poles: “May your independence be invincible and eternal.”
The march has up to now drawn far-right sympathizers from different European international locations, together with Hungary and Italy. Among these collaborating this 12 months was Paul Golding, the chief of Britain First, a small far-right occasion within the U.Okay.
Football supporters had been outstanding among the many marchers, some holding banners with far-right slogans. One group introduced EU and LGBGQ+ flags to stomp on and one rainbow flag was burned. However, many households additionally took half, and there have been no arrests. Police eliminated local weather protesters who positioned themselves alongside the route of the march.
