Half a million Poles in protest against the government

Polish protesters filled the streets of central Warsaw on Sunday.

– City hall estimates the number of protesters at 500,000 now, says the organizers’ spokesperson Jan Grabiec.

According to the political opposition organizers, the protest is the largest anti-government demonstration in the country since the fall of communism almost 35 years ago.

Lech Walesa, who became the country’s first democratically elected president in 1990 and led the fight against communism, led the march.

People have traveled from all over the country after former prime minister and European Council president Donald Tusk called for protests against “the high cost of living, fraud and lies, and for democracy, free elections and the EU”. Tusk leads the opposition party Citizens’ Platform.

And more opposition leaders followed Tusk’s call, encouraging their supporters to join the march against the ruling national conservative Law and Justice led by Jaroslaw Kaczyński.

The protesters carry placards with messages such as “Enough is enough” and “No to authoritarian Poland” and accuse the ruling party of exorbitant prices.

Addressing the crowd, Tusk said the role of the opposition is of “comparable importance” to that of the 1980s against communism.