Abortion protesters clash with nationalists protecting churches in Poland

As protests against a ruling by the constitutional court that introduces a near total ban on abortion continued for a fifth consecutive day, clashes broke out in a number of cities between the demonstrators and far-right groups that have pledged to defend churches from them.

Separately, two women were hurt, with one hospitalised, after a car drove through a group of protesters who were blocking a road.

Yesterday, a radical nationalist leader, Robert Bąkiewicz, announced that he was creating a “National Guard” (Straż Narodowa) to act as a “Catholic self-defence” force against “neo-Bolshevik revolutionaries”.

“The sword of justice is hanging over them and, if necessary, we will crush them to dust and destroy this revolution,” he warned. “Left-wing groups say ‘this is war’ [a slogan of the abortion protests]. Yes, this is war, and we are joining it.”

Bąkiewicz is a former leader of the National Radical Camp (ONR), an ultranationalist group that calls for an “ethnically homogeneous” Poland. He is now the main organiser of the annual nationalist Independence March in Warsaw that is attended by tens of thousands.

On Sunday, as protesters against the anti-abortion ruling sought to vandalise churches and disrupt masses, Bąkiewicz led a group of nationalists in defending one church in Warsaw.

The group physically removed female protesters from the premises. They later revealed that they had received permission from the parish priest to do so.

Last night, after announcing the creation of his defence force, Bąkiewicz gathered with a larger group of followers outside St Alexander’s Church on Three Crosses Square in the centre of Warsaw.

They were confronted by a crowd of hundreds of protesters, with the two sides separated by police, who deployed tear gas. Some of the protesters threw firecrackers at the nationalists, reports Onet. Later, physical fights broke out on the square.

This morning, Bąkiewicz was interviewed by state broadcaster TVP. He warned that “without decisive action by the authorities, blood will be shed again”. He claimed the police had not done anything to protect his group from protesters throwing bottles, firecrackers and stones at them.

After last night’s clashes, police said that “one of the aggressive people was detained”. But a spokesman warned the nationalists that they should “consider whether they are unnecessarily aggravating the situation”, reports TOK FM.

Bąkiewicz’s defence force did, however, receive support from members of Poland’s ruling national-conservative coalition. Deputy justice minister Sebastian Kaleta tweeted a round of applause in response to Bąkiewicz celebrating that his group had “repelled the assault of leftist barbarians” on the church.

An MP from the governing camp, Tomasz Rzymkowski, congratulated the “young nationalists defending the temple, just like the whole of Latin civilisation, against the barbarians”.

Similar clashes took place in other parts of the country, where far-right organisations and associated groups of football fans defended churches.

On Sunday, a group of 30-40 nationalists – including members of All-Polish Youth (Młodzież Wszechpolska), a far-right group – stood on the stairs of Katowice Cathedral, where they clashed with abortion protesters, around 4,000 of whom had gathered outside the church.

Yesterday, there were scuffles in Częstochowa between abortion protesters and nationalists defending Jasna Góra Monastery, home to Poland’s holiest Catholic shrine. Riot police used tear gas as they sought to keep the two sides apart, reports RMF FM.

In Poznań, nationalists and football fans shouting “hands off our church” charged at abortion protesters, leaving one “young girl badly beaten”, according to local news website TenPoznan.

In Gdańsk, a few dozen fans of the local football club, Lechia, some wearing nationalist symbols, stood guard outside the city’s cathedral against a crowd of thousands of abortion protesters, reports Gazeta Wyborcza. Police kept the two sides apart.

Likewise in Wrocław, where tens of thousands of protesters had gathered, a small group of young men holding rosaries and crosses stood guard outside the cathedral. Elsewhere in the same city, a group of around 20 nationalists got into a confrontation with demonstrators outside another church.

In Jasło, a town of 35,000 in southeast Poland, a group of 40 fans of the local football club declared they were “patrolling the town and chasing out leftism”. In Chełmża, a small town in central Poland, local football fans also stood guard outside the basilica

Yesterday once again saw mass protests against last Thursday’s ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal, which makes Poland’s abortion law – already the most stringent in the European Union other than Malta’s – even more restrictive.

In Warsaw, demonstrators gathered outside the presidential palace, as well as the headquarters of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party. In the afternoon, demonstrators blocked roads around the country as part of a planned protest action.

At one blockade in Warsaw, a car drove into a group of protesters, leaving two women injured, including one hospitalised with minor injuries. Although the driver fled the scene of the incident, Warsaw police today reported that he was detained later the same day.

Organisers of the protests have called for women to go on strike tomorrow, while on Friday a mass demonstration in Warsaw is planned.

Main image credit: Tomasz Pietrzyk / Agencja Gazeta

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.