The Independence March in Warsaw – which is Europe’s largest annual rally organised by the far right – will go ahead as a state event with government backing. Previously, decisions by courts and the municipal authorities had prevented it from taking place legally.
The government’s decision, which was confirmed by the ruling party today, comes after the justice minister yesterday called on the organisers of the march to show “civil disobedience” by ignoring court orders and going ahead with the event.
Yet there still remains doubt about what will happen on the day, with both the nationalist Independence March – now backed by the government – and an anti-fascist event – approved by opposition-controlled Warsaw city hall – set to take place on the same route.
Warsaw’s nationalist Independence March in doubt after courts give anti-fascist event right to route
“The Independence March will have a state character,” said Anita Czerwińska, spokeswoman for the ruling national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, today. “We are calling for a dignified march that does not lose its social character.”
The march, which takes place to mark Independence Day on 11 November, attracts up to 100,000 participants. In some years, it has ended in violence, including against police; at other times it has passed peacefully, though still with the presence of antisemitic, Islamophobic and anti-LGBT banners and chants.
This year, however, courts ruled that the event had lost its status as a “cyclical gathering”. That meant that it did not have priority access to its traditional route, which this year has been reserved by an anti-fascist event on 11 November.
Last week, Zbigniew Ziobro – who serves as justice minister and national prosecutor – filed an extraordinary complaint to the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the rulings by lower courts. He called the march a “patriotic event” and said that participants’ constitutional right to assembly has been violated.
However, yesterday his appeal was rejected. In response, Ziobro said that he “thinks the organisers of the event can use the concept of…so-called civil disobedience…to defend their civil rights”, reports Gazeta.pl. He noted that, in other contexts, opposition supporters have advocated the idea of civil disobedience.
Today, the head of the government’s Office for Veterans and Victims of Oppression, Jan Józef Kasprzyk, told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) that, in light of the “incomprehensible decision” of Warsaw’s mayor and the courts, he was granting formal status to the Independence March under article 2 of the law on assemblies.
Takie tam fotki z państwowej uroczystości. pic.twitter.com/7Ig7Wv3Xi8
— Jan Mencwel (@JanMencwel) November 9, 2021
That article allows an assembly to be exempted from the provisions of the law if it is organised by public authorities. Czerwińska subsequently confirmed that the Independence March would be given a state character.
Kasprzyk also noted that the march would, as normal, begin at Warsaw’s Dmowski Roundabout and then “follow the traditional route”.
Last year’s march ended in violence after it went ahead despite being banned due to the pandemic. Participants clashed repeatedly with police, and an apartment in a building that was displaying LGBT and women’s rights flags was set on fire.
Poland’s centrist and left-wing opposition parties subsequently called for the event to be banned. Last month, Warsaw’s mayor, Rafał Trzaskowski, repeated that call, saying that one of the main groups behind the march, National Radical Camp (ONR), bears “the hallmarks of fascism”.
The government, however, has been supportive of the march, calling it a patriotic event rather than a nationalist one. After attacks on police last year, a deputy prime minister claimed – without presenting evidence – that the violence had been caused by “provocateurs”.
PiS has no formal ties to the far-right groups behind the march. However, in 2018 – the centenary of Poland regaining independence – the government coordinated with them to hold marches along the same route. Groups linked to the march’s main organiser have also recently received state grants from the culture ministry.
Main image credit: Agata Grzybowska / Agencja Gazeta
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.
