Polish police attack peace demonstration in Wroclaw

international | anti-war | news report Wednesday September 14, 2005 21:16 by Dr. Coilín Oscar ÓhAiseadha Máigh Nuad, Co. Cill Dara

5 peace demonstrators arrested, 2 charged

Plainclothes police officers attacked a peace demonstration held in Wroclaw on Saturday.

Five demonstrators were arrested, and two are to be charged with assaulting police officers and disturbing public order.

The demonstrators were commemorating the war-time pogrom in the city of Jedwabne and protesting against Polish involvement in the war in Iraq.

Poland: antiwar action and police repression in Wroclaw
Date: Wednesday 14 September 2005 10:38
From: Zaczek
To: alter-ee@lists.most.org.pl

On the 10th of september a group of antiwar activists from Wroclaw held an antiwar picket and happening and was attacked by the police.

The picket was held on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the creation of the Silesian Military Region.

An imitation of Camp Iraq was set up on the main town square, an imitation of the camp in which Polish soldiers live in Iraq. One of the banners had a slogan: "We apologized for Jedwabne, we will apologize for Iraq." (This slogan is designed to piss off nationalists. It´s about the wartime pogrom in the city of Jedwabne which was organized by Poles and was denied and attributed to Germans for a long time.)

A person with a loudspeaker talked about all the "glorious" achievements of the Silesian military: intervention in Czechoslovakia (1968), martial law (1981) and Iraq (2003).

The picket was suddenly attacked by plain-clothes cops who did not show their badges. A fight with the cops followed. 5 people were taken to the police station for questioning. 2 of the activists will be charged with assault on police and additionally for "disturbing public order". The activists have been released and are waiting for calls from the court.

Zaczek
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-- Andreas Speck at WRI Conscientious Objection Campaigning Worker War Resisters´ International 5 Caledonian Rd * London N1 9DX * Britain tel. +44-20-7278 4040 * fax +44-20-7278 0444 email andreas@wri-irg.org * http://wri-irg.org