“They were dragging us around on the street” - Demonstrator

by Warsaw Independent News Agency

WARSAW, November 19, 2005 (Warsaw Independent Newswire)  —  The police in Poznań today briefly detained and interrogated 65 demonstrators during the March of Equality organized by organizations of leftist and gay activists in Poznań, western Poland.
 

Demonstrators protested against discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender, race, and disability, the organizers said.

The march was banned by the mayor of Poznań, who cited security reasons. A year earlier, a similar legal event led to street riots with far-right activists. The organizers of the march claimed that the mayor of Poznań, Ryszard Grobelny, surrendered to the demands of far-right parties and the Catholic clergy, who believed the demonstration was immoral.

Riot police surrounded the demonstrators shortly after they began their march. 65 demonstrators, who sat on the street, were pulled out of the crowd, detained, and interrogated at police stations.

“They were dragging us around on the street,” a demonstrator told the Warsaw Independent news agency.

“I was put in a police car, driven to a police station, and charged with taking part in an illegal gathering,” the demonstrator said, adding he will be tried for a misdemeanor.

“The police surrounded the demonstrators with a double cordon,” the Campaign against Homophobia, a non-governmental organization, said in a statement following the march. “Police units headed for the demonstrators. The policemen brutally pulled sitting demonstrators from the group and dragged them along the sidewalk.”

Tadeusz Iwiński, an MP of the post-communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), said he had filed an official interpellation to the government, alleging the violation of Polish domestic and European Union regulations regarding the freedom of expression and gathering.

Neither the police or governing politicians were not available for comment when Warsaw Independent news agency. posted this news item.

© Warsaw Independent News Agency

VIDEO

Video report from TVP2 (3mb file - not streaming)

AUDIO

Mayor of Poznań Bans Gay Pride Parade.  Audio report (MP3) by Radio Polonia's Michal Kubicki (Radio Polonia, November 18, 2005)

SEE ALSO

Today’s Gay March in Poznań Now Legally Banned.  The March of Equality and Tolerance, dubbed ‘Gay Pride’, due to be staged in Poznan, western Poland, this afternoon (Saturday) has been officially banned. (UK Gay News, November 19, 2005)

Polish City Bans Gay March for Security Reasons, by Marcin Sobczyk in Warsaw.  The mayor of Poznań, a metropolitan city in western Poland, banned a gay parade on Tuesday, Nov. 15.  The Poznań march, expected to gather some 500 demonstrators, was supposed to take place on Nov. 19 as part of the Days of Equality and Tolerance in Poznań, organized by leftist, ecological, and feminist groupings. (UK Gay News, November 16, 2005)

UK Gay News has many articles on Poland.  These can be accessed through the search engine on the main Archive page

LINKS

Campaign Against Homophobia Poland website (in English)
Radio Polonia website (in English)
Polskie Radio website (in Polish)
Warsaw Independent website