Peter Gentle is a British journalist working and living in Warsaw.

WARSAW, June 13  –  Around 2,500 gay, lesbian and human rights campaigners marched through the centre of the Polish capital on Saturday, despite having the ‘Equality Parade’ banned by the mayor of Warsaw.

The march was also opposed by around 300 members from Polish far-right groups who occasionally threw eggs, stones and bottles and staged sit-down protests in the middle of the street in an attempt to stop the parade.

Events began at noon with a legal protest outside the Polish parliament (Sejm). To circumvent the ban of the march by Mayor Lech Kaczynski – a leading member of the conservative and populist Law and Justice party and a favourite to win the national presidential election in the autumn – the original plan was to stage eight separate protests along the route of the march.

But most protestors headed straight for the parliament building.

From there the demonstrators – including deputy Prime Minister, Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka and leading members from the German Green party – marched to the Palace of Culture and Science in the central district of the city.

Scuffles broke out between far-right groups and police who made 10 arrests. Three people were injured, but none seriously.

Leaders of gay and lesbian groups in Poland said the event had been a great victory for human rights and for the Polish constitution.

Claudia Roth from the German Greens told reports in Warsaw: “The persecution of gays and lesbians is contrary to European democratic values. Whether Kaczynski does of does not like homosexuals he is required to honour their rights to protest freely.”

After the parade, Kaczynski complained that the police had been heavy handed when arresting members of the far-right groups who, he said, were making a legal and justified protest.

This is the second year running that the Mayor has banned the gay pride march, claiming that it represents a threat to law and order in the capital. It is also the second year running that he has given permission to far-right supporters from the All-Poland Youth movement and religious groups to go ahead with a counter-demonstration.

The Equality Parade was part of two days of events in Warsaw focusing on promoting gay and lesbian issues and combating homophobia. Speaking at the opening of the event on Friday, Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka told reporters that, “homosexuals are portrayed in Poland as people to be afraid of.” 

In opinion polls taken over the weekend, around 50% of Poles supported Mayor Kaczynski’s ban of the parade.

Recently a court in Poznan, mid-western Poland, ruled that there was nothing offensive about comparing homosexuals to paedophiles.  The court action was brought by gay and lesbian groups complaining of a statement by Kaczynski’s Law and Justice party which stated that a planned Equality Parade in Poznan would, “promote issues such as paedophilia.”

The latest poll by the PBS Institute gives Lech Kaczynski 26 percent support in his bid to become president of Poland in elections this October, 8 percentage points ahead of his nearest rival.

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LINKS

From UK Gay News archive:

Deputy Prime Minister Shows ‘Solidarity’ at Warsaw Gay Parade – June 11
Poland Fails EU Human Rights Obligations On Gay Issues - OutRage! – June 8
Warsaw’s Gay Pride Parade To Go Ahead Despite Mayor’s Ban. – May 23
Mayor Puts Damper on Gay Pride Parade in Warsaw. – May 19

Krakow Pride, April 2005
A Bird Sang at Auschwitz As Gays Remembered Holocaust Victims
March Is Off, But the Show Goes On

From Radio Polonia
Deputy PM Calls For Educational Campaign on Homosexuality – June 10

Audio report (MP3): Human Rights Groups Protest Gay Pride Ban from Polskie Radio News, Poland

13 June  2005