Dozens of Poles stood up to protest the removal of a wooden cross erected in front of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, in commemoration of the Smolensk plane crash tragedy of April 10, which killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife along with 94 other major political and military figures.
Protesters vowed to fight “to death” in a clash with the police, who managed to remove a woman who was trying to tie herself to the cross. The police did not succeed in removing the cross, however.
The decision to move the plain wooden cross to St. Anne’s church was a mutual agreement between newly elected President Bronislaw Komorowski, national scouts organizations, and church authorities. Before the move, the cross will be taken on a pilgrimage to Czestochowa, the site of what’s considered Poland’s holiest Catholic shrine.
“This cross, erected by the presidential palace, is a symbol of those days when Poles, united in pain, came to this place to show their solidarity and mourning,” member of European Parliament, Zbigniew Ziobro wrote in a protest letter to Komorowski, Polish media reported.
Ziobro is a member of the main opposition party Law and Justice, led by the late president’s twin brother, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski lost the recent presidential elections to Komorowski, who will be sworn in on Friday.
Warsaw Archbishop Tadeusz Nycz on Tuesday urged a compromise, suggesting erecting a memorial plaque in front of the palace, reported AFP.
According to unconfirmed media reports, members of the current opposition Law and Justice Party will attend a protest in front of the presidential palace on Wednesday, to protest the removal of the cross.
Protesters vowed to fight “to death” in a clash with the police, who managed to remove a woman who was trying to tie herself to the cross. The police did not succeed in removing the cross, however.
The decision to move the plain wooden cross to St. Anne’s church was a mutual agreement between newly elected President Bronislaw Komorowski, national scouts organizations, and church authorities. Before the move, the cross will be taken on a pilgrimage to Czestochowa, the site of what’s considered Poland’s holiest Catholic shrine.
“This cross, erected by the presidential palace, is a symbol of those days when Poles, united in pain, came to this place to show their solidarity and mourning,” member of European Parliament, Zbigniew Ziobro wrote in a protest letter to Komorowski, Polish media reported.
Ziobro is a member of the main opposition party Law and Justice, led by the late president’s twin brother, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski lost the recent presidential elections to Komorowski, who will be sworn in on Friday.
Warsaw Archbishop Tadeusz Nycz on Tuesday urged a compromise, suggesting erecting a memorial plaque in front of the palace, reported AFP.
According to unconfirmed media reports, members of the current opposition Law and Justice Party will attend a protest in front of the presidential palace on Wednesday, to protest the removal of the cross.
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