Posts Tagged ‘March’
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
Poland, November 11, 2019
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
March of Independence Day in Warsaw
On November 11, Poland celebrates Independence Day, which coincides with the end of the First World War and the birth of the “Second Republic of Poland”, following the Treaty of Versailles. During this day various celebrations are held, but the most important event is the Independence Day March, which runs through the city of Warsaw. Althoughit is a day of celebration for all Poles, in the last few years the extreme right wing and nationalist parties have taken over the march, which often exploit it to spread their slogans and principles. In 2017 some of the demonstrators showed racist banners and slogans like “Pure Poland, white Poland” and “White Europe of brotherly nations”. The Warsaw mayor, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, had tried to ban the demonstration the following year for security reasons, but a court accepted the appeal of the nationalists, stating that prohibiting the march would be a form of preventive censorship. Eventuallythe Government and nationalist and far-right groups came to anagreement: the extreme right demonstration would follow the official one, separated by a police cordon. On November 11, 2018, among the 200,000 participants, in addition to State representatives and Polish nationalist and far-right groups, there was also a delegation from Forza Nuova, the Italian neo-fascist party. Poland has long since had a clear turn to the right, with the government led by the right-wing party “Law and Justice” (PiS, led by Jarosław Kaczyński) which approved several authoritarian measures, against the fundamental freedoms of citizens or aimed at controlling strategic pieces of the state like the Supreme Court. The same party won the parliamentary elections on October 13, 2019.
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L’11 Novembre in Polonia si celebra il Giorno dell’Indipendenza, che coincide con la fine della Prima Guerra Mondiale e la nascita della “Seconda Repubblica di Polonia”, a seguito del Trattato di Versailles. Durante questa giornata si tengono vari festeggiamenti, ma l’evento più importante è la Marcia del Giorno dell’Indipendenza, che attraversa la città di Varsavia. Sebbene si tratti di un giorno di festa per tutti i polacchi, negli ultimi anni all’interno della marcia hanno preso il sopravvento i gruppi di estrema destra e i partiti nazionalisti, che spesso la sfruttano per diffondere i propri slogan e principi. Nel 2017 alcuni dei manifestanti mostrarono striscioni razzisti e slogan tipo “Polonia Pura, Polonia Bianca” e “Europa bianca di paesi fratelli”. La sindaca di Varsavia, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, cercò di proibire l’anno seguente la manifestazione per motivi di sicurezza, ma un tribunale accolse il ricorso dei nazionalisti, stabilendo che proibire la marcia sarebbe stata una forma di censura preventiva. Alla fine il Governo e i gruppi nazionalisti e di estrema destra trovaronoun accordo: la manifestazione di estrema destra avrebbe seguito quella ufficiale, separata da un cordone di polizia. L’11 Novembre 2018, fra i 200.000 partecipanti, oltre ai rappresentanti di Stato e ai gruppi nazionalisti e di estrema destra polacchi, vi era anche una delegazione di Forza Nuova, il partito neofascista italiano. La Polonia da tempo ha avuto una netta svolta verso destra, con il governo guidato dal partito di destra “Diritto e Giustizia” (PiS, guidato da Jarosław Kaczyński) che ha approvato diverse misure autoritarie, contro le libertà fondamentali dei cittadini o volte a controllare pezzi strategici dello Stato come la Corte Suprema. Lo stesso partito ha vinto le elezioni parlamentari del 13 ottobre 2019.
March of Independence in Warsaw
Warsaw, Poland
11/11/2014
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Nationalist groups clash with police in Warsaw on Independence Day
More than 200 people have been detained as some Poles object to European Union ideals
Police in Warsaw used water cannon and fired rubber bullets into the air on Tuesday to push back several hundred masked men who broke away from a far-right march and threw stones and flares at lines of riot police. Nationalist groups who believe traditional Polish values are under threat march through the Polish capital each year to mark the anniversary of Polish independence, and for the fourth year in a row their procession turned violent. When the march, involving tens of thousands of people, crossed a bridge over the Vistula river to the eastern bank near the national soccer stadium, a group of people broke away.
They tore up paving slabs and benches from a nearby bus station and hurled them at police, a Reuters reporter said. The police responded by firing rubber bullet rounds into the air, and used jets of water, stained red by a colouring agent, from four water cannon trucks to push them back. Three men tried to move forward using a large blue road sign they had torn down as a shield but were also driven back.
The Reuters reporter saw one man bleeding from a wound to his head and Polish television showed a police officer being stretchered into an ambulance. Police spokesman Mariusz Sokolowski said more than 200 people had been detained, many of them before the march started for carrying items that could be used as weapons. He said officers had contained the rioters in the area around the soccer stadium and were bringing the confrontation under control. The majority of the marchers carried on peacefully to a rally nearby.
Led by a centre-right government, Poland is enjoying a period of prosperity unprecedented in its modern history. But some Poles feel traditional values – including a strong attachment to the Catholic church, and opposition to abortion and same-sex marriages – are being sacrificed as Poland embraces the ideals of the European Union. At the start of the march, participants chanted “Down with the European Union!” One small group in the crowd, from the city of Chelm, began making Nazi-style salutes, but organisers intervened to stop them.
Source: theguardian.com
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Filippo Venturi Photography | Blog 