Hundreds of thousands of people gathered on Sunday, October 1, at the start of a large anti-government march in the center of Warsaw. “When I see these hundreds of thousands of smiling faces, I feel that a decisive moment in the history of our homeland is coming,” said the leader of the centrist bloc of the Civic Platform (PO), Donald Tusk, by inaugurating the march.
The “March of a Million Hearts”, as Mr Tusk, a former prime minister and ex-head of the European Council, called it, started at midday. It will mark, according to him, “one of the biggest events” in the modern history of Poland and will be one of “the biggest demonstrations in Europe in recent years”.
“They will not intimidate us, they will not silence us. It is essential that all of Poland sees that no one is afraid of them anymore,” Tusk said at a public meeting on Thursday in Elblag, in the north of the country, targeting the Law and Justice (PiS) party. , in power for eight years.
“Our freedom is reduced.”
Participants began gathering in Warsaw from the early hours of Sunday, coming from all over Poland. Kazimierz Figzal says it took him seven hours to reach the capital from the southwest of the country.
“We are fed up with what we are witnessing today. Our freedom is reduced. We want democracy, for our children and our grandchildren,” said the 65-year-old, waving the flags of Poland and the European Union (EU).
Former president and 1983 Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech Walesa announced that he would participate in the march, as did several opposition party leaders. “We know what you fear most: cooperation within the opposition,” said Wlodzimierz Czarzasty, co-leader of the New Left party, addressing Deputy Prime Minister and PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Despite numerous conflicts with the EU and accusations of undermining the rule of law, Mr. Kaczynski’s populist nationalist party maintains a comfortable lead in the polls, with around 35% of voting intentions, according to the IBRiS polling institute. Donald Tusk’s coalition is in second place, supported by 27% of voters, according to the same study.
However, according to Tusk, polls commissioned by his party show that the Law and Justice party’s lead has recently shrunk to just two percentage points. “Nothing is decided yet,” he told the crowd gathered in Elblag, promising to hold the current authorities accountable after the vote. “Many of them will go to prison for theft, for violating the law and the Constitution,” he insisted.
On Sunday, PiS leaders are holding their own rally in the southern city of Katowice. Bartlomiej Piela traveled in reverse, from Katowice to the capital, to participate in the opposition rally and protest against “what is happening in Poland”. “Breaking basic civil rights and the freedom of women to choose their way of life, pitting Poles against each other… I hope the march will mobilize people to change this,” the 29-year-old hopes.
