WARSAW, November 24, 2005  –  Peaceful demonstrations are to be staged in a number of Polish cities this weekend, it was announced today.
 

■ The Mayor of Krakow Jacek Majchrowski who says a ban on a march in his city would be contrary to the country’s constitution.

Demonstrations, in solidarity with Poznań where police in full riot gear were brought in to break up a peaceful “March for Equality” last weekend, are to be staged in Elblag, Gdańsk , Katowice, Krakow, Lodz, Poznań, Rzeszow, Torun, Wroclaw and the capital, Warsaw.

The events last weekend in Poznań have rocked many in Poland – and beyond.

Authorities in Gdańsk, the city where Lech Walesa founded the Solidarity movement, have already banned the march, giving as the reason the mis-spelling of a street in the city  in the written application.

However, in nearby Elblag, the Mayor’s spokesperson Agnieszka Staszewska said that permission for a demonstration at 6pm on Sunday had been granted.

The only other city to approve is Krakow where the city’s moderate mayor, Jacek Majchrowski, said he was not going to ban it as a ban would be contrary to the country’s constitution.

In Warsaw, no decision has yet been announced.  Lech Kaczynski, recently elected as Poland's President, is still the mayor until December 22.  He has already banned two Gay Pride parades in the city, while letting counter demonstrations organised by far-right and Polish Youth go ahead on the same day.

In June, some 2,500 defied the Gay Pride ban and marched.  The number of counter demonstrators was put at 300.  In the aftermath of the “battles” in the capital, Kaczynski complained of the heavy-handed when arresting members of the far-right groups who, he said, were making a legal and justified protest.

“The ‘Poznań events’ – first the cancellation of the March of Equality by Poznań authorities and then the brutal breakup of the peaceful demonstration by the police – have shown that Poland is definitely not a place where law is fully respected,” the Solidarity With Poznań National Committee said in a statement issued this afternoon.

“Public authorities have proved their disregard for constitution and the citizen rights.  In this case, the decision-making bodies have been clearly motivated by ideological criteria and vested political interests.

“This way, not only are citizens deprived of the possibility to express their beliefs and ideas, but the authorities let the fascist groups and the police get away with attacking innocent people,” the coalition said.

“If the authorities have not broken the right to organize public assemblies, the attack on the participants of the peaceful demonstration would never have happened.”

The Committee pointed out that on November 11 “an aggressive demonstration of a Neo- Nazi Radical and National Camp was legal and protected by the police”.

“If you take into account the participants of the cancelled Poznań march who got beaten up, the police were definitely not interested in protecting anybody at all.”

“The demonstrations are happening [this weekend] because we want to protest against an escalating process of limiting and violating human rights in Poland.

“This is the very moment to show the newly elected government that we do not agree to the new restrictions that reserve freedom only for the chosen citizens who represent right wing ideas.”

Solidarity With Poznań National Committee are also organizing a march in defence of democracy and freedom to demonstrate in Poznań itself on Saturday.

■ The “Solidarity with Poznan” National Committee is a coalition of the following organizations: Democratic Union of Women (Gdańsk), The Anarchist Federation (Gdańsk), The Youth Federation of Labour Union (Gdańsk), eFKa Foundation (Krakow), Culture for Tolerance Foundation (Krakow), Spaces for Dialogue Foundation (Gdansk), Campaign Against Homophobia, Academic Association of Gender Studies, Gdansk University, informal group Lodz Gender (Lodz), Women’s Rights Centre (Lodz), Young Centre (Gdańsk), Democratic Party (Gdańsk), The Alliance of Women of March 8th (Warsaw), Lesbian (LBT) Coalition, The New Regeneration Movement, Polish Social Democrats (Gdańsk), Young Socialists (Gdansk, Rzeszow), The Leftist Union (Gdańsk), The Greens 2004.