Large protests in Poland against the government

Polish protesters filled the streets of central Warsaw on Sunday.
City hall estimates the number at 500,000.
– You can say that it is the Polish election campaign that is already starting now, says TV4 Nyhetern’s foreign affairs commentator Johan Fredriksson.

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.

– He now supports Donald Tusk and has found a broad coalition together with the completely legitimate criticism that Poland has introduced laws and regulations that are anti-democratic, says Johan Fredriksson.

New anti-Russian bill

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.

What “triggered” the large demonstration is believed to be an anti-Russian bill that was presented the other day, with the aim of accessing Russian spies in Poland.

– But the opposition and civil rights organizations believe that it gives room to remove anyone in the Polish state apparatus that you are dissatisfied with and that you would use the law to get at the opposition, says Johan Fredriksson.

“No to authoritarian Poland”

And more opposition leaders heeded 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.

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