POLAND
The “Battle of Poznań”: Court Dismisses Charges Against Equality March Protesters
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POZNAŃ, January 5, 2006 –
Criminal charges against 53 participants – which included gays and lesbians
– in the ‘Equality March’ in Poznań last November have been dropped. |
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Yesterday, a court in Poznań refused to begin criminal proceedings against the 53. A similar decision was reached last week in 22 similar cases brought by the police against marchers who were detained and charged with taking part in an illegal gathering. Last week’s ruling by the criminal court was that it would only penalise demonstrators if their offence was “damaging to society”. The march on Saturday November 18 was banned by the Mayor of Poznań, Ryszard Grobelny, who cited “security reasons” for the ban. But march organisers insisted that the Mayor gave in to political pressure from the ruling right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party and the far-right LPR, its informal parliamentary coalition partner, and the Roman Catholic clergy who insisted the march was “immoral”. The regional administrative court in Poznań subsequently overruled the Mayor’s decision, saying that Grobelny did not have the authority to ban a peaceful demonstration. After this ruling, the police, indicated that they would not support the criminal charges any longer. The police have yet to make criminal charges against counter-demonstrators who shouted fascist slogans at the Equality March participants and threw eggs. The Polish News Agency PAP reported at the time that about a dozen counter-demonstrators threw eggs at the marchers and some shouted: “We are going to do with you what Hitler did with the Jews”. While Polish hate crime law does not include sexual orientation, it does include anti-Semitic remarks. And a spokesperson for the Poznań police was reported at the time that they would charge those who made the remark for being offensive to an ethnic group. VIDEO Video report from TVP2 (3mb file - not streaming). Polish Television, November 18, 2005 - Sound in Polish. AUDIO Mayor of Poznań Bans Gay Pride Parade. Audio report (MP3) by Radio Polonia's Michal Kubicki (English language service of Radio Polonia, November 18, 2005) SEE ALSO The Battle of Poznan: A Gay Suspect’s View of the Poznan Events. By Tomasz Szypula. I am 25. I was born four months before the Solidarity began its revolution in August 1980. The only Poland I can remember is time after 1989. The time of democracy – at least until last Saturday. (UK Gay News, November 21, 2005) Riot Police Detain, Interrogate 65 at Gay Demo in Poznań. “They were dragging us around on the street” - Demonstrator. 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. (UK Gay News, November 19, 2005) 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)
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Posted: 5 January 2006 at 16:00 (UK time)