Warsaw sees massive protest rally

 
About a million people gathered at a rally in Warsaw to protest against the conservative Polish government, the city spokeswoman said on Sunday. The demonstration comes two weeks ahead of general elections on Oct 15. "This is absolutely the biggest demonstration in Warsaw's history," Ms Monika Beuth told AFP.

The liberal Civic Platform (PO) said the polls may decide Poland's future in the European Union and its democratic standing. Opinion polls suggest the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government could win the vote but may struggle to form a majority.

This is due to discontent among some over rising living costs and concern over an erosion of democratic checks and balances. The opposition is hoping Sunday's march becomes the biggest in decades and galvanises voters to participate in the election.

"Change is coming. This is a sign of Poland's rebirth," PO leader Donald Tusk told crowds gathered in a central Warsaw square, many people waving Polish and EU flags.

Mr Tusk, a former European Council president, has said that PiS could aim to take Poland out of the EU, something the party denies, and has framed the election as crucial for minority and women's rights.

But Mr Tusk's faction faces a difficult path to power. It has trailed in opinion surveys throughout the campaign, during which the PiS has decried migration and attacked Mr Tusk as a pawn of neighbouring Germany.

A large demonstration in early June drew hundreds of thousands of people to Warsaw's streets. It briefly gave Mr Tusk's party a bump in the polls.

But that momentum quickly faded. A Sept 26 Ipsos survey had the party down by seven percentage points. PiS has been in power since 2015. It has campaigned on a pledge to keep migrants out of Poland, saying that was key for national security, and to continue funnelling money towards families and the elderly.

"I want to be free, be in the EU, I want to have a say, I want to have free courts," said Ms Hanna Chaciewicz, a 59-year-old dentist from Otwock, a town outside of Warsaw.

Public broadcaster TVP, which independent media observers say has become a government mouthpiece under PiS rule, earlier quoted police as saying that 100,000 people joined Sunday's march. Mr Tusk said there were nearly a million.

Some carried banners saying "PiSexit" or "The cat can stay", referring to the pet animal of PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
PiS denies Western criticism that it has subverted democratic norms.

It says its reforms of the judiciary are aimed at making the country fairer and free of vestiges of communism, while its changes to public media rid it of foreign influence.

But it has yet to gain access to billions of euros in EU Covid recovery funds which Brussels has withheld over the Polish court reforms.
"Everybody is investing in jobs, in fighting the climate catastrophy. And we have been denied this money because someone has decided to destroy democracy in Poland," Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski told those at the rally.

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