Worthy Christian News > World News > 1 Million Attend Poland Opposition Rally

1 Million Attend Poland Opposition Rally

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

WARSAW/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Authorities in Warsaw said Sunday that about a million people attended the Polish capital’s biggest opposition rally on record ahead of upcoming elections that could determine the level of support for neighboring war-torn Ukraine.

Public broadcaster TVP, which critics say has become “a government mouthpiece” under the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, quoted police saying about 100,000 people joined.

Online news channel onet.pl said its calculations showed some 600,000-800,000 people attended Sunday’s rally. Some carried banners saying “PiSexit” or “The cat can stay,” referring to the pet animal of PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

The rally’s organizing liberal Civic Platform (PO) said the elections later this month may decide Poland’s future in the European Union and its democratic standing.

Opinion polls suggest the PiS government could win the vote but may struggle to form a majority amid discontent, including over rising living costs, analysts said. And there are worries over an erosion of democratic checks and balances. Liberals also criticized the government’s strict anti-abortion legislation and perceived anti-LGBTQ+ policies, though church leaders have been more positive about what they view as pro-life measures in this heavily Catholic nation.

In addition, Sunday’s protest came after Poland’s prime minister said his country would no longer provide arms to Ukraine as a trade dispute between the neighboring states escalates.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stressed in a recent television interview that Poland is “no longer transferring any weapons to Ukraine because we are now arming ourselves with the most modern weapons.”

GRAIN BAN

The standoff began after President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested that countries banning Ukrainian grain imports, such as Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia, were working on Russia’s behalf.

Poland, which, like the other countries, seeks to protect farmers against the influx of cheaper Ukrainian grain, urgently summoned the Ukrainian ambassador last month and announced the halt in new weapons deliveries

Morawiecki said in an interview on private broadcaster Polsat that a NATO military alliance and U.S. hub in the Polish city of Rzeszow used for transporting weapons into Ukraine would not be affected. “We are not going to risk the security of Ukraine,” he said.

Warsaw had supplied Kyiv with a wide range of weaponry, including Leopard 2 tanks and Soviet-era MiG fighter jets.

Poles are still mainly in favor of supporting Ukraine, believing their nation would be vulnerable if Russia prevailed just across the border.

And Donald Tusk, a top opposition leader who attended Sunday’s rally, accused Morawiecki and other ruling authorities of a “moral and geopolitical scandal of stabbing Ukraine in the back politically” by stopping military aid. “They decide to fight on the Ukrainian front just because it will be profitable for their campaign.”

But there is also a growing weariness in society with the large numbers of Ukrainian refugees, a sentiment noticed by the government, which closely watched the election victory of a pro-Russian party in nearby Slovakia on Sunday.

POLISH WARNING

While the massive rally was underway Sunday,

Polish prime minister warned Ukraine against establishing a close alliance with Germany in a speech at his party’s political convention.

At a gathering of PiS in the southern Polish city of Katowice ahead of the October 15 parliamentary elections, Morawiecki addressed his remarks directly to President Zelensky.

“I understand that it seems to [President Zelensky] now that he will have a close alliance with Germany. Let me warn you, Germany will always want to cooperate with the Russians over the heads of Central European countries,” Morawiecki said.

Morawiecki recalled Poland’s support for Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion.

“It was Poland that welcomed a few million Ukrainians under our roofs; the Poles welcomed the Ukrainians. It was we who helped the most at the time when the Germans wanted to send 5,000 helmets to besieged Kyiv,” the Polish prime minister said.

“It is worthwhile for you not to forget this, President Zelensky,” he added.