Polish PM announces major march in Warsaw next June
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced that a major march will take place in Warsaw on June 4 next year to mark the anniversary of the country’s first partially free elections and the centenary of former Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki’s birth.
Tadeusz MazowieckiPAP/Bartłomiej Zborowski
Tusk said on Thursday that participants in the „Great Patriots’ March” would walk past a planned monument to Mazowiecki, which he proposed erecting outside the prime minister’s office in central Warsaw.
Announcing the initiative, Tusk said that June 4, 1989 marked the end of communism in Poland and the beginning of the country’s democratic transition.
He invited all former Polish prime ministers to join an honorary committee overseeing the construction of the monument.
Mazowiecki became Poland’s first non-communist prime minister after the June 4, 1989 elections, which were won overwhelmingly by the Solidarity freedom movement.
The vote, the first partially free parliamentary election in communist Poland, paved the way for the collapse of communist rule and broader democratic changes across Central and Eastern Europe.
The elections were the result of agreements reached during the Round Table talks between the communist authorities, the Solidarity-led opposition and representatives of the Catholic Church.
Mazowiecki was Poland’s first non-communist prime minister since the end of World War II. He later served in parliament and was an adviser to President Bronisław Komorowski on domestic and international affairs. He was awarded the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state distinction.
The previous „Great Patriots’ March” took place in Warsaw in May last year ahead of the second round of Poland’s presidential election. The event was organised in support of centrist candidate Rafał Trzaskowski.
On the same day, the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party held a separate rally backing its candidate, Karol Nawrocki, who went on to win the presidency.
Tusk’s political camp also organised large demonstrations in Warsaw before the 2023 parliamentary elections, including a June 4, 2023 march and the „March of a Million Hearts” held later that year.
Poland’s next parliamentary election is due to be held in the autumn of 2027.
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Source: IAR, PAP
