A coronavirus vaccination point in the Polish city of Zamość was set on fire last night. The incident, which follows other acts of aggression by opponents of vaccination in Poland, has been condemned by the health minister, Adam Niedzielski, as an “act of terror”.
Od podpalenia punktu szczepień i sanepidu tylko krok do podpalenia szpitala czy karetki. To nie akt wandalizmu, tylko terroru. Antyszczepionkowcy powinni być uznani za org terrorystyczną i tak traktowani, jako zagrożenie dla bezpiecz. publ.
Pozamykać aż do końca pandemii.#Zamość pic.twitter.com/bSY8RVbBiL— Mycielski 🌍🇪🇺🇵🇱 (@mycielski) August 2, 2021
During the night, both a mobile vaccination point in the central square of Zamość, a city of 65,000 in southeast Poland, as well as the local headquarters of the sanitary authorities, which are responsible for enforcing coronavirus restrictions, were set alight.
Speaking about the incidents during a briefing on Monday, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that such acts would be “severely” punished. “There will be no tolerance whatsoever,” he warned. “We will pursue all cases of this type with determination.”
Speaking in Zamość itself, Niedzielski announced a 10,000 zloty (€2,193) reward for finding the perpetrator. The prime minister has also promised that measures would be taken to bolster security at vaccination points.
Meanwhile, the police – who have set up a team dedicated to investigating the arson – have published material from surveillance cameras showing the suspect. The video shows a man breaking a glass window, pouring what looks like flammable liquid inside, and setting the unit ablaze.
Polish police published a surveillance video showing the man who set fire to a mobile #COVIDVaccination point in Zamość last night. pic.twitter.com/dLEF9dhb4U
— Wojciech Kość (@WojciechKosc) August 2, 2021
Vaccines stored in a fridge at the vaccination point are likely to have been destroyed, said a local spokeswoman. A single room at the sanitation department, which was used to store protective equipment, was also burned.
The damage at the two locations is estimated at 8,000 zloty (€1,750) and 30,000 zloty (€6,575) respectively, reports lublin112.pl, a local news site. No one was hurt in the fires.
The authorities report a growing number of such incidents. “We are seeing an escalation of extremely brutal and even thuggish behaviour of anti-vaccine groups,” said Jaroslaw Szymczyk, chief commander of the police in Poland, quoted by TVN24.
Police in Grodzisk Mazowiecki yesterday detained two protesters who tried to force their way into a vaccination point.
"Freedom on their banners…obscenities and using fists…This must be condemned," tweeted health minister Adam Niedzielski
https://t.co/LyaR7jRj64— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) July 26, 2021
Last weekend, a struggle broke out after anti-vaxxers tried to force their way into a vaccination point in Grodzisk Mazowiecki. Two of the participants – some of who wore vests of an organisation pledging to “resist the lawlessness of the government and police” – were detained.
Last month, the latest in a series of protests against Covid restrictions and vaccines was held in Głogów. Participants chanted against “sanitary segregation” and “vaccination coercion”, while also claiming that “Jews are behind the pandemic”.
Commenting on the growing number of such incidents, Marek Nowak, a sociologist at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, told Gazeta Wyborcza that the pandemic has “intensified the formation of radical movements” and led “anti-vaccination movements to use terror to convince others to share their views”.
"Jews are behind the pandemic," chanted the crowd at an anti-vaccine protest in Poland.
Separately, the far-right Confederation party, which sits in parliament, shared a video of a supporter saying she “does not want Jewry” in Poland https://t.co/XzqIDGzQU3
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) July 19, 2021
Poland’s vaccine rollout initially proceeded at roughly the same pace as the European Union average, but since mid-June it has fallen well behind. Just under 49% of Poles have received at least one dose of vaccine, compared to 59% across the EU as a whole.
The government admits that there has been a “very concerning” decline in registrations for vaccines and recently confirmed it would have to sell tens of millions of unused doses to other countries
The authorities have launched various initiatives to encourage people to get jabbed, including a lottery for fully vaccinated people with a one million zloty (€222,000) top prize.
Main image credit: Policja Lubelska/Twitter
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.
