General Jaruzelski celebrates 90th birthday
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
08.07.2013 06:55
A 90th birthday party for former communist leader of Poland General Wojciech Jaruzelski took place in a hotel in Warsaw on Saturday.
PAP
Protestors outside borthday party for General Jaruzelski:photo - PAP/Tomasz Gzell
The party for the still controversial general, who declared martial law in Poland in 1981, was attended by some 100 guests, including his wife and daughter, former high-ranking communist leaders, leftist MPs in the current parliament and even some former members of anti-communist opposition such as Andrzej Celinski and Jozef Pinior.
A group of protesters gathered in front of the hotel shouting “Jaruzelski – a traitor and murderer’. One of their banners read ‘May you live 100 years – in prison’.
Jaruzelski, who has suffered ill health for many years, was given a Jubilee Book with chapters by 29 authors including former president Aleksander Kwasniewski and last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachov.
Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) MP Tadeusz Iwinski told the Polish Press Agency that Jaruzelski was “in a very good form; he reminisced about his school years, told anecdotes from his life and apologized, not for the first time, for his failures”.
Iwinski added that Jaruzelski received birthday wishes from former US President George Bush.
The party was organized by Aleksander Kwasniewski’s ‘Amicus Europae’ Foundation (mk/pg)
source: PAP