Police deny opposition leader’s claim that “migrants are occupying buildings in Warsaw”

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Police have denied a claim by conservative opposition leader Jarosław Kaczyński that there are parts of Warsaw where “migrants are breaking into apartments and occupying empty buildings”. The interior minister has accused him of seeking to “spread fear”.

Following controversy about the remarks, a senior figure from Kaczyński’s Law and Justice (PiS) party has insisted that they are true but says that PiS cannot name the district in question for risk of identifying the police officer who provided the information.

Kaczyński made the comments in parliament on Friday amid renewed debate about immigration following the government’s presentation this week of a new migration strategy for the coming years.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk says that the policy is intended to toughen the migration system and protect Poland’s national security, which he says was compromised by corruption in the visa system under the former PiS government. But Kaczyński claims Tusk’s plan is to secretly “introduce multiculturalism”.

“There are already places in Warsaw that the police warn about migrants, where there are attempts to break into apartments and houses at night,” said Kaczyński. “Security is at risk, empty buildings are being occupied by migrants.

“This phenomenon is hidden from the public because for it is local in nature,” he continued. “But there is no doubt that after the implementation of this [migration] policy, that this situation will spread around the country.”

Kaczyński did not identify which part of Warsaw he was referring to. News website Onet contacted Warsaw’s police headquarters to ask about the issue. “We do not comment on things that did not happen,” spokesman Robert Szumiata told them.

The opposition leader’s claims were criticised and ridiculed by politicians from the ruling coalition.

“This is the same kind of idea as Donald Trump, who said that refugees in Springfield are eating cats and dogs,” Paweł Wawrynkiewicz, a politician from Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO), told Polsat News, referring to the US presidential candidate’s recent discredited claims about Haitian immigrants.

“It’s hard not to turn this into a joke. Kaczyński has always been trying to scare people with refugees and he continues to do so,” said Marta Wcisło, another KO politician. “[If] Kaczyński has such information, then as the leader of a major party, he should report it to the appropriate services and not talk nonsense.”

In 2015, Kaczyński famously warned that refugees carry “all sorts of parasites and protozoa, which…while not dangerous in the bodies of these people, could be dangerous here [in Europe]”.

Speaking to broadcaster TVN, interior minister Tomasz Siemoniak likewise accused Kaczyński of “spreading fear”, just as he did with his “shameful statements about immigrants who carry parasites”.

“The police fighting crime all over Poland, committed by both Polish citizens and foreigners,” added Siemoniak. “If [Kaczyński] has any information, if he feels unsafe anywhere in Warsaw…please call [the emergency services] and the police will take care of it.”

However, Radosław Fogiel, a former spokesman for PiS, defended Kaczyński’s remarks and said that he knew the source of the information and which district it related to.

“Yes, I know where it is, quite nearby,” Fogiel told Polsat, adding that Kaczyński had received the information from a friend who is a police officer. “He [Kaczyński] deliberately did not say which district he was referring to, so as not to expose the officer, so that he would not have problems at work.”

One week ago, Tusk gave a speech announcing his government’s planned new migration policy and accusing PiS, which ruled Poland from 2015 until the end of last year, of running “the most pro-illegal-migration government in Europe” during its time in power.

On Tuesday, Tusk’s cabinet – with the exception of four left-wing ministers – approved the new migration policy, which most controversially includes plans to temporarily and partially suspend the right to claim asylum in Poland.

This month, it was also revealed that the government is planning to open 49 new “foreigner integration centres” to provide services to immigrants and help them adapt to life in Poland.

Those later plans have faced criticism from PiS figures, including Kaczyński. However, the government notes that plans for the centres were first conceived and piloted under the former PiS government, which oversaw the biggest wave of immigration in Poland’s history.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Marcin Kucewicz / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

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.