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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.
Poland’s main opposition party, the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), has called for Antifa to be designated as a terrorist organisation in the wake of American right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s murder. It has also called for a new law protecting the rights of Christians, saying they “are today the most persecuted social group”.
“Charlie Kirk was a symbolic figure for many young people; he was a representative of young conservatives, fighting for the freedom of speech, religious freedom, freedom of debate, and for that he was murdered,” said PiS MP and former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro on Wednesday.
Ziobro said that Tyler Robinson, who has been charged with killing Kirk, “identified with LGBT activists” and that PiS “wants to oppose leftist tendencies and demands that, through violence, want to impose their own views”.
Ziobro’s party colleague, Dariusz Matecki, announced that they were submitting a request to Prime Minister Donald Tusk “demanding that we follow the example of the United States and Hungary, and that Poland request the European Union to recognise Antifa as a terrorist organisation”.
💬 Poseł PiS @DariuszMatecki: Charlie Kirk dziś symbolizuje wolność słowa, ale też nienawiść lewej strony do chrześcijan. Organizacje, takie jak Fidei Defensor, które raportowały o przestępstwach przeciw chrześcijanom zostały całkowicie zniszczone przez A. Bodnara po zmianie… pic.twitter.com/oAdm0Nl4Q5
— Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (@pisorgpl) September 24, 2025
Earlier this week, Donald Trump signed an executive order designating Antifa – a loose and decentralised radical anti-fascist and anti-racist movement – as a domestic terrorist organisation. He took that action after promising to clamp down on left-wing groups in the wake of Kirk’s murder.
Meanwhile, Viktor Orbán, the right-wing prime minister of Hungary, said that his country would also seek to “follow the American example” and designate Antifa a terrorist organisation. The EU has a joint terrorist list of individuals and organisations against whom it applies sanctions and restrictions.
In Poland, anti-fascist events are often held – for example, counter-marches organised in response to nationalist events. However, the term “Antifa” itself is not often used by such groups to describe themselves.
Ziobro also announced that PiS would seek to resurrect a proposed law “on the defence of Christians” in Poland. The legislation was previously presented to parliament in 2022, when PiS was in power, and received backing at the time from Ziobro, who was then justice minister.
Among its provisions were prison sentences of up to two years for anyone who “publicly insults or ridicules the church, an object of worship, or a place intended for the public performance of religious rites”. The legislation would also have introduced protections from prosecution for speech expressing religious beliefs.
However, by the time the bill finally made its way to a parliamentary vote in 2024, PiS had lost power and been replaced by Tusk’s more liberal ruling coalition, which ranges from left to centre-right. The legislation was rejected by the government’s majority in the Sejm, the more powerful lower house of parliament.
Anyone who “publicly insults or ridicules the church” could be jailed for 2 years under a bill submitted by a party in Poland’s ruling coalition
There's "growing aggression toward those who have the courage to admit their faith", says the justice minister https://t.co/iK4oNdoZyv
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 7, 2022
On Wednesday, PiS MP Michał Wójcik condemned the ruling coalition for “throwing into the trash a bill that was meant to protect Christians in Poland from attacks”.
Marcin Warchoł, a former PiS justice minister, claimed that “Christians are today the most persecuted social group” and require special protection. During a speech to the UN this week, Poland’s PiS-aligned president, Karol Nawrocki, also called Christians “one of the most persecuted groups in the world”.
Poland in fact already has a law making it a criminal offence, punishable by up to two years in jail, to “offend religious sentiment”. It has often been used to bring charges against those deemed to have insulted Catholics, who are by far Poland’s largest religious group, making up over 70% of the population.
Warchoł, however, argues that the existing law is sometimes hard to implement because it must be proved that someone’s feelings have been offended.
A court has found two women guilty of offending religious feelings – a crime in Poland – for displaying an image of the Virgin Mary and Jesus with rainbow haloes during an LGBT march https://t.co/vCr3ExKWWQ
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) April 21, 2023
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.
Image credits: Mafo/Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY-SA 4.0)
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.
