Anti-government protests held across Poland

Several thousand people took to Krakow’s Rynek Główny yesterday as part of a series of protests in Poland and abroad against the newly governing Law and Justice (PiS) party.

The demonstrations were organized by the Warsaw-based Komitet Obrony Demokracji (Committee for the Defence of Democracy), formed in November to combat what it views as overreach by the government to reshape the judicial system in its favor.

(by Fred Gijbels)

The Cracovians were joined by simultaneous protests in Poznań, Gdańsk, Wrocław, Lublin, Katowice and Tarnów. Crowds in Warsaw were dispersed prematurely by police after a now-discredited bomb threat.

(by Fred Gijbels)

PiS, the national conservative party out of power for 8 years, gained a powerful majority in the government in October, while its Andrzej Duda won the presidency this past May.

16 thoughts on “Anti-government protests held across Poland

  • December 20, 2015 at 5:13 pm
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    PiS are already deeply unpopular in Poland having just started their term of office. This is a very bad start and unfortunately this party will be in power for the next 4 years. Individual Poles are interested in upholding the independence of the judiciary and will fight tooth and nail to preserve this. This message should be loud and clear to Kacinski and his inner circle and they need to stop trying to rush through anti-constitutional legislation that they think will pass unnoticed by the Polish electorate.

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    • December 21, 2015 at 6:50 am
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      “”PiS are already deeply unpopular in Poland having just started their term of office”” says who? KOD?
      It’s funny how many of the mainstream media outlets in Poland failed to show the 5x larger pro -government rallies taking place all over Poland.

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      • December 31, 2015 at 11:06 am
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        Here a quote from Christian Science Monitor:

        Robert Dopierała, a lawyer in Gliwice, wrote a letter to President Duda in December stating simply: “I’m taking back my vote from you,” he wrote. “I know that by giving you my vote, in a way I allowed you to do what you do right now.”

        That sentiment might impact PiS in the polls. According to the latest survey published in the Rzeczpospolita daily, PiS has support of 30 percent now, compared to 39.23 percent in October’s election.

        “I am disappointed by the president’s job, disillusioned by the fact that he is not a president of all Poles, like he promised during his campaign,” Mr. Dopierala says.

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    • December 21, 2015 at 1:36 pm
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      Ivan, u r nuffin more than a useful idiot who believes in that shitty anti-Polish propaganda. All the real patriots’re standin by PiS. All yous expats who’re livin in Krakow, please don’t consider that bloody demos as the true voice of our nation!

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    • December 22, 2015 at 2:41 pm
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      Where is the anti-Polish propaganda you speak of? What you can see is a fear of the direction in which PIS is trying to take the country; with its ignorant, paranoid and narrow-minded politics.

      There was no hearing for constitutional judges. Amendment proposals were rejected.What there is, is a sustained effort by PIS to abuse their power in undemocratic fashion. It’s bordering on facism and will only get worse.

      It would be a crying shame to let Poland slip back into the darkness of the post war era. The demos are a true voice and they need to be heard and get louder. After all: “The Only Thing Necessary for the Triumph of Evil is that Good Men Do Nothing”.

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  • December 20, 2015 at 11:43 pm
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    Many Poles will emigrate to the UK. These will mainly be the worst sort of Poles,

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    • December 21, 2015 at 6:52 am
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      Why would poles want to move to the UK and be with the worst sort of Brits, as you kindly put it.

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      • December 22, 2015 at 4:16 am
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        It’s was a joke. Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of PiS, called the protesters “the worst sort of Poles” during an interview.

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  • December 21, 2015 at 1:50 am
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    To Ivan: What are you talkung about? Have you ever been to Poland?

    Reply
  • December 21, 2015 at 6:37 am
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    Seems as if people are easy to forget the long list of corruption scandals the prior government had managed to rack up.

    KOD-owcy
    Dlaczego nie protestowaliście gdy “wybuchały” kolejne afery z udziałem PO:
    1) Afera taśmowa
    2) Afera hazardowa
    3) Afera wyciągowa
    4) Afera stadionowa
    5) Afera autostradowa
    6) Afera stoczniowa
    7) Afera AmberGold
    8) Afera Elewarru
    9) Afera z informatyzacją MSW
    10) Afera z budową gazoportu w Świnoujściu/dostawami gazu z Kataru
    11) Afera z budową elektrowni atomowej (od 5 lat trwa “wybieranie” lokalizacji, a zarząd specjalnych spółek bierze kasę)
    12) Afera z opóźnieniem publikacji przez Rządowe Centrum Legislacji ustawy o rajach podatkowych
    13) Grabież Polakom połowy oszczędności emerytalnych zgromadzonych w OFE (153 mld zł)
    14) Wydłużenie obowiązku pracy (wieku emerytalnego) o 7 lat u kobiet i 2 lata u mężczyzn
    15) Rozrost biurokracji (sto tysięcy nowych etatów)
    16) Drastyczny wzrost zadłużenia kraju (z 530 mld zł do blisko 1 bln zł)
    17) Podniesienie VAT-u na wszystko
    18) Podwyższenie o 1/3 składki rentowej (ZUS) dla przedsiębiorców
    19) Zamrożenie na 8 lat kwoty wolnej od podatku, kwot uzyskania przychodu oraz progów podatkowych
    20) Podniesienie akcyzy na paliwo
    21) Likwidacja ulg podatkowych (budowlana, internetowa)
    22) Zmniejszenie o 1/3 zasiłku pogrzebowego
    23) Wprowadzenie nowego podatku paliwowego – tzw. opłaty zapasowej
    24) Nałożenie na Lasy Państwowe haraczu w postaci podatku od przychodu (a nie dochodu!)
    25) Prace nad wprowadzeniem podatku smartfonowego i tabletowego
    26) Prace nad wprowadzeniem podatku audiowizualnego
    27) Przyjęcie zabójczego dla polskiej gospodarki pakietu klimatycznego
    28) Zgoda na wprowadzenie do Polski GMO
    29) Przyjęcie ustawy o ograniczeniu dostępu obywateli do informacji publicznej
    30) Przyjęcie ustawy o ograniczeniu wolności zgromadzeń
    31) Przyjęcie ustawy o “bratniej pomocy” (tzw. ustawa 1066)
    32) Spuszczenie w sejmowym klozecie kilku milionów podpisów złożonych pod obywatelskimi inicjatywami referendalno-ustawodawczymi
    33) Utajnienie raportu o nieprawidłowościach w ZUS do jakich doszło w latach 2008 – 2013
    34) Próba nocnej zmiany Konstytucji RP, która umożliwiłaby sprzedaż Lasów Państwowych
    35) Doprowadzenie do tragicznego stanu publicznej służby zdrowia (czekanie po kilka lat na wizytę u lekarza specjalisty)
    36) Podpisanie z Rosją niekorzystnej umowy gazowej (najdroższy gaz w Europie)
    37) Blisko 3-letni paraliż legislacyjny w sprawie wydobywania gazu łupkowego
    38) Drenaż Funduszu Rezerwy Demograficznej
    39) Wyprzedaż majątku narodowego za ponad 65 mld zł (w tym spółek strategicznych takich jak Azoty Tarnów);
    40) Ograniczenie potencjału militarnego
    41) Brak przemyślanej i suwerennej polityki zagranicznej
    42) Wszechobecny nepotyzm i kolesiostwo (tysiące stanowisk opłacanych z publicznej kasy dla kolesi z Platformy “Obywatelskiej”)

    Reply
  • December 21, 2015 at 1:43 pm
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    Voters had their say, and apparently it was a misguided. The question to mr is how did PIS do so well in the election? Was it all motivated by fear? If so, Polish voters must think deeply before heading to the voting booth.

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    • December 21, 2015 at 5:44 pm
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      Fear? More like democratic change Ernest. The movements that this gentleman is writing about is called KOD. It is funded solely to destabilize the current government that was legitimately elected.
      All part of the Alinskyite model. You should read the rules for radicals. KOD is a textbook example of this.

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      • January 25, 2016 at 8:53 am
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        KOD is not funded by anyone- the right wing propaganda is out to discredit them as they fear them.

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  • December 22, 2015 at 6:35 pm
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    KOD’s money comes from the green party :-) what do you expect

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  • December 31, 2015 at 10:43 am
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    Corruption is bad, but abandoning a system with checks and balances (separation of powers) by a command chain type of government is prone to even larger corruption. As we say in my country (I am a German living in the Netherlands), “The fish starts rotting from the head downwards.”

    Do the PiS voters who are happy with the current development actually understand what separation of powers is all about, I wonder? Can the local PiS supporters here explain it in their own words, for instance?

    Reply

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