- Yesterday, during the Independence March, there were riots and clashes with the police, many officers were injured; the rubber bullet also hit the reporter Tomasz Gutry;
- Although the events took place yesterday, PiS delayed issuing any announcement; today the leadership of the party has gathered on this issue
- Late in the evening, on Twitter, the PiS statement regarding the events of November 11 in Warsaw was published; the party declared that it would clear up any doubts about the march
- The statement says that if the events during the Independence March resulted from “mistakes committed by law enforcement authorities, those responsible will be treated in accordance with the law.”
- More information can be found on the Onet.pl home page
Let us remind you. Today, a two-hour meeting of the party leadership took place at the PiS headquarters. It was attended by, among others head of the Ministry of Interior and Administration, Mariusz Kamiński, responsible for the police. The conference was related to the events that took place yesterday during the Independence March. Only late in the evening, the party’s spokeswoman Anita Czerwińska published a statement on the events in the capital.
“The organizers of the Independence March, which is a great demonstration of patriotism, took responsible action, proposing that this year’s march adopts a motorized formula, safe in the era of an epidemic. In the atmosphere of social consent, created by the recent protests of the Women’s Strike, many citizens who wanted to demonstrate their patriotism and celebrate the anniversary regaining independence, joined in the form of a walking procession. Understanding our intentions, we must not forget about the conditions in which we operate today – the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting ban on assembly, “we read in the statement.
“Unfortunately, during the march there were damning incidents as a result of the joining of groups of hooligans, and perhaps also deliberate provocations. We will do everything to ensure that the reasons for each of these events, including the injury of editor Tomasz Gutry, as well as many policemen, one of them are hard, have been fully explained “- reads the PiS statement.
The party declared that if the above events resulted from “errors committed by law enforcement authorities, those responsible would be treated lawfully”.
“We emphasize once again that Law and Justice has always positively referred to the idea of the Independence March, which gives many Poles the opportunity to celebrate together,” we read in a statement. PiS emphasizes that under the PO-PSL coalition government “it defended law-abiding people, often wrongly of the accused participants “.
“We have to note with pain that certain political formations, and in particular some representatives of the Confederation, adopt a tactic that can be briefly described: the worse the better. One of the elements of this tactic is to adopt the vulgar language of the total opposition in its various forms, which is particularly embarrassing Law and Justice rejects this kind of attitude. We have always strived and will strive to improve the situation of Poland and its citizens, the situation of Poles, and make the prospects of our homeland better and better “- we read in the statement,
Complete statement below:
On Wednesday, the Independence March passed through the streets of Warsaw. Due to the pandemic, his organization was not approved by the president of Warsaw. According to the organizers’ announcements, it was supposed to be a motorized event, but many participants took part on foot. During the march there were clashes between the demonstrators and the police; the police informed, inter alia, that stones and flares flew towards the policemen at the de Gaulle roundabout; flares were thrown into one of the apartments in Powiśle, which caused a fire. The Warsaw Police Headquarters informed that the gathering of pedestrians was illegal.
74-year-old photojournalist Tomasz Gutry was injured on Wednesday during the riots that took place on the Independence March in Warsaw. The man went to the hospital shot by a rubber bullet stuck in his face. Capital Commander of the Police, Nadinsp. Paweł Dobrodziej assured after this incident that the policemen used smoothbore weapons against hooligans, and in the case of the photojournalist it was an “unfortunate accident”.
Karolina Gałecka, a spokeswoman for the town hall, emphasized that the repair of the damage after the march would cost the city an estimated tens of thousands of zlotys. It is about torn-out posts and cobblestones, the destroyed Veturilo station and the set fire to the city office door.
– The organizers and participants of the Independence March did not respect the judgments of the courts, and in addition, many hooligan acts took place during the assembly. Aggressive hooligans tore dozens of blocking posts and paving stones, set fire to the Veturilo bicycle station and the door to one of the city’s offices using pyrotechnic materials – explained Gałecka.
She added that officials will know the exact scale of the damage in a few days, and road services are still carrying out an inventory of the city’s infrastructure. The march was forbidden.
– The March of Independence is a cyclical assembly, therefore, in accordance with the regulations, the voivode registers the application. On November 6, 2017, the Mazowiecki Voivode granted the consent of the Independence March Association to organize cyclical assemblies on November 11 in 2017-2020. However, the registration took place in a different epidemic situation. Due to the large number of COVID-19 infections, as well as further restrictions by the government administration, in the current legal state, max. up to 5 people, with 100 meters spacing between various meetings – informed Gałecka.
She noted that, therefore, the president of the capital, Rafał Trzaskowski, asked the Mazowiecki Voivode for an opinion. The Mazowiecki Voivode, in turn, also submitted a request to the sanitary inspection. – In response, the Sanepid Office sent an opinion to the Mazowieckie Voivodship Office, in which it clearly stated that “the assembly, in which tens of thousands of people have been declared, cannot take place because it violates the current legal status and poses a threat to the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus, may cause an increase in the number of COVID-19 patients and overload the health service – explained Gałecka.
On October 29, the capital city office asked the Sanepid for an additional opinion on the possibility of carrying out the above-mentioned assembly in the formula adopted by the organizer. “A day later, on October 30, we received a reply in which it was pointed out that there is a risk of, among others, transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus from person to person.
– It should be noted that this is not the first situation in which we prohibit an assembly due to the state of the epidemic and after a negative assessment of the sanitary services. In this matter, all court instances maintain our position. The decision to prohibit the organization of the march was submitted to the District Court in Warsaw on November 6. The court upheld the city’s decision, Gałecka said in the message sent.
Source: Twitter, PAP, Onet
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