By Janis Laizans and Kuba Stezycki
WARSAW, Nov 11 (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of right-wing supporters including Poland’s nationalist president marched for Independence Day in the capital Warsaw on Wednesday against a backdrop of political friction over a mass shooting in the city of Krakow.
The annual rally – which this year carried the slogan “Poles are masters of their own land” – is viewed by right-wing parties as an expression of national pride. But centrists, now in power, say it has become a platform for racism.
Political sentiment is particularly sensitive after Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government initially suggested that the man who killed six people in Krakow’s main square on Saturday may have been motivated by far-right ideology.
President Karol Nawrocki, whose role is largely ceremonial, walked at the front of the crowd in Warsaw, which stretched for more than 3 km (1.9 miles). Many carried white-and-red flags and some ignited flares despite a ban by authorities.
“The atmosphere is, to put it mildly, quite heated,” said packaging factory worker Pawel Karasnopolski, 51.
“We must remember that we are all Polish and that we live in Poland. We want what is best for the country, so let this march be an expression of our devotion and love for our homeland, rather than an extension of all these existing conflicts.”
Organisers estimated the crowd at about half a million, while city officials said it was 250,000.
ANTI-TUSK SENTIMENT
Some banners read: “Make Europe white again” or “Tusk will not spit in our face”. Chants were heard saying: “Donald, you idiot, we are going to get you”.
Giving a speech in the northwestern city of Szczecin, Tusk urged Poles to lower the tone of confrontation and remember the common good of independence, freedom and security.
Among the marchers were visiting foreign nationalists, including from Spain’s Revuelta youth movement and Hungary’s far-right Mi Hazánk party.
Rafal Buca, a spokesperson for the march organisers, said they condemned any politicization of the Krakow shooting.
“We want a sovereign Poland, independent of foreign capitals,” he added in comments to Reuters. “We also envision a Poland that is as mono-ethnic as possible.”
Security was tight, with extra police drafted in from outside the capital, concrete barriers installed on streets near the start, and nearby areas searched.
Authorities have in the past attempted to stop the march taking place following violence.
(Reporting by Marek Strzelecki, Alicja Surdy, Kuba Stezycki, Janis Laizans, Aleksandra Szmigiel and Kacper Pempel; writing by Alan Charlish; editing by Philippa Fletcher and Andrew Cawthorne)
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