Tensions as Polish presidential plane crash commemorated
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
10.12.2016 19:14
A monthly gathering to remember the victims of the 2010 Polish presidential plane crash and a counter-rally took place in central Warsaw on Saturday without major incidents but with tension palpable.
Counter-rally in front of the presidential palace in Warsaw. Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański
Jarosław Kaczyński, head of Poland's ruling conservative Law and Justice party, said the aims of the counter-rally were illegal, adding: "Today we have the first direct attempt to disrupt of our ceremonies."
Meanwhile, the group holding the counter-rally -- Obywatele RP (Citizens of the Republic of Poland) -- said they would lodge a complaint with prosecutors, claiming they had been “pushed back” by police from the site of a legal demonstration.
But Warsaw police spokesman Mariusz Mrozek said officers stepped in to prevent possible clashes.
Mrozek added government protection officers had agreed with the counter-rally organisers the gathering had to be moved because Prime Minister Beata Szydło was taking part in the monthly commemorations of the 2010 Smolensk plane crash and a security check had to be carried out.
The Smolensk plane crash in western Russia killed Polish President Lech Kaczyński and 95 others.
The Citizens of the Republic of Poland group, protesting against the exhumation of Smolensk disaster victims in a new inquiry into the crash, had earlier announced they would block the commemoration.
The latter is held every month by supporters of Poland's ruling Law and Justice party.
(pk)
Source: Polish Radio/IAR/TVP