Category Archives: Poland

‘A backlash against a patriarchal culture’: How Polish protests go beyond abortion rights

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Mass demonstrations have exposed underlying anger at political and religious interference in people’s everyday lives

For 14 nights they have marched, enraged by a near-total ban on abortion that has stirred a generation to stage the largest mass demonstrations that Poland has seen since Solidarność toppled the communist regime in the 1980s.

Until soaring coronavirus numbers and a looming national lockdown made it almost impossible, up to a million people nightly defied a government ban on protests, taking to the streets from Warsaw to Łódź, Poznań to Wrocław, Gdańsk to Kraków.

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Deal struck to enable EU to block budget payments to rogue members

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Qualified majority vote by states will be sufficient for removal of voting rights

Brussels will be able to block budget payments to rogue EU governments that undermine the rule of law or the independence of judges, under a hard-fought agreement between the European parliament and member states.

In what was described as the “end of a painful phase” for the EU, a provisional deal has been struck, which will allow a qualified majority of member states to impose sanctions where governments fail to maintain democratic standards.

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Poland delays abortion ban as nationwide protests continue

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Anti-government rallies continue over court’s ruling to restrict access to terminations

Poland’s rightwing government has delayed implementation of a controversial court ruling that would outlaw almost all abortion after it prompted the largest protests since the fall of communism.

“There is a discussion going on, and it would be good to take some time for dialogue and for finding a new position in this situation, which is difficult and stirs high emotions,” Michał Dworczyk, the head of the prime minister’s office, told Polish media on Tuesday.

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Pro-choice supporters hold biggest-ever protest against Polish government

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About 100,00o people take to the streets of Warsaw to oppose tightened abortion law

About one hundred thousand protesters took to the streets of the Polish capital, Warsaw, on Friday, in the largest demonstration of popular anger directed against Poland’s ruling rightwing Law and Justice party (PiS) since it assumed office in 2015.

Protests have been held across the country since Poland’s constitutional tribunal declared earlier this month that abortions in instances where a foetus is diagnosed with a serious and irreversible birth defect were unconstitutional. Such procedures constitute about 96% of legal abortions in Poland, which already has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe.

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Polish hospitals begin turning away women seeking abortions

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Institutions appear to enforce controversial ban despite legislation not yet taking effect

Hospitals in Poland have been turning away women seeking abortions even though a court ruling that has instituted a near-total ban on terminations has not yet taken effect.

The ban, which outlaws one of the three narrow exceptions under which abortion is still permitted – that of severe foetal defects – has sparked huge protests in Poland.

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‘This is war’: opposition politicians in Poland take abortion protests to parliament – video

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Opposition politicians brought protests over a near-total ban on abortion in Poland to the floor of parliament.

Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus, from the opposition Lewica (Left) party, led a protest of other opposition members wearing masks and T-shirts bearing the lightning bolt symbol of the 'Women's Strike' movement, which has been leading nationwide protests on the abortion ban.

They held up placards with slogans such as 'this is war' and 'legalise abortion', before walking to the benches where lawmakers from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party were sitting.

There have been protests across Poland after a court ruling said abortion due to foetal abnormalities, for which the majority of legal abortions are performed in Poland, was unconstitutional.

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Polish pro-choice protests continue with blockades and red paint

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Thousands march in opposition to ruling that could lead to near total ban on abortions

Thousands of protesters turned out in towns and cities across Poland on Monday as a political crisis sparked by an impending near total ban on abortion showed no sign of abating.

Drivers created a series of blockades in city centres and thousands of people marched to express their anger at a ruling by Poland’s constitutional tribunal that, if implemented, would ban terminations even in instances where a foetus is diagnosed with a serious and irreversible birth defect.

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Thousands join Poland protests against strict abortion laws

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Protests follow ruling that law allowing abortion of malformed foetuses is incompatible with constitution

Thousands of people marched in cities across Poland on Saturday in the third straight day of protests against a near-total ban on abortion, with some promising further action in the coming days.

The protesters were reacting to Thursday’s ruling by Poland’s highest court that an existing law allowing the abortion of malformed foetuses was incompatible with the constitution.

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Poland: scuffles erupt as thousands protest against abortion ban – video report

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Police in Warsaw clashed with protesters during demonstrations against a constitutional tribunal ruling that imposes a near-total ban on abortion. Tens of thousands of people rallied across Poland on Friday, defying the country's tight coronavirus restrictions

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Poland braces for more protests over abortion ban ruling

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Demonstrations planned amid anger over court decision banning almost all abortions

Protests are planned for various Polish cities this weekend amid public anger over a ruling banning almost all abortion in the country.

Poland already has some of the most draconian abortion laws in Europe, and on Thursday a constitutional tribunal ruled that one of the few exceptions to the ban – cases of severe foetal impairment – should also be made illegal. These cases, which hardline Catholic anti-abortion activists have called “eugenic abortion”, made up almost all of the small number of abortions performed legally in Poland.

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Global report: record Covid cases and new lockdowns across Europe

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Parts of Spain and Italy facing restrictions as Ireland set to become first EU country to reimpose national lockdown

Regions in Spain and Italy have returned to lockdown and Ireland will do so from Wednesday as countries across Europe continue to report new Covid infection highs and governments struggle to contain the second wave of the pandemic.

The northern Spanish Navarre region, where the number of cases per 100,000 people is 945 against 312 nationally, announced a two-week lockdown from Thursday that will be stricter than measures imposed on Madrid by central government.

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Covid in Europe: protests in Czech Republic, Ireland to toughen rules

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Switzerland makes masks mandatory as continent struggles to contain infections

Police fought anti-mask protesters in the Czech Republic, Ireland prepared to announce tough new restrictions and Switzerland made masks mandatory indoors as European governments struggled to contain continuing record Covid case numbers.

As Italy on Sunday reported 11,705 new infections over the past 24 hours, its largest ever figure, and France on Saturday set a new high of 32,427 cases, police in Prague’s historic tourist district fired teargas and water cannon after demonstrations against strict anti-coronavirus restrictions turned violent.

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‘On the brink of disaster’: Europe’s Covid fight takes a turn for the worse

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As France imposes curfews, even countries that previously managed well are struggling badly

“It’s not a word I’ve heard in a long, long time,” an elderly Paris resident said, leaving her apartment in mask and gloves for an early expedition to the shops. “A curfew. That’s for wartime, isn’t it? But in a way I suppose that’s what this is.”

Europe’s second coronavirus wave took a dramatic turn for the worse this week, forcing governments across the continent to make tough choices as more than a dozen countries reported their highest ever number of new infections.

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WW2 bomb explodes underwater in Poland during attempt to defuse it – video

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A British bomb left over from the second world war has been detonated in Poland. The 5,400kg Tallboy bomb was dropped by the RAF in 1945 during an attack on a German cruiser. It was rediscovered in September 2019 during works to deepen a waterway near the port of Szczecin. Navy divers from Poland had rigged a small explosion to disarm the bomb but instead it went off. There were no injuries.

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Norway grants asylum to man claiming persecution by Polish government

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Rafał Gaweł’s prison sentence for fraud was retaliation by rightwing regime, Norway says

Norway has granted asylum to a Polish man who was facing prison for fraud and forging of documents, saying the sentence was a form of political persecution under Poland’s rightwing government.

Observers say that Rafał Gaweł’s case is the first time political asylum has been granted to a Pole in more than 30 years since the fall of communism in Poland. They see it as another sign that international trust in Poland’s justice system has been undermined by the government, which is putting it under political control.

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Nazi shipwreck found off Poland may solve Amber Room mystery

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Polish divers locate Karlsruhe, which they hope holds treasure Nazis looted from Russia

Polish divers say they have found the wreck of a German second world war ship that may help solve a decades-old mystery about the whereabouts of the Amber Room, an ornate chamber that the Nazis looted from a tsarist palace in Russia.

Decorated with amber and gold, the room was part of the Catherine Palace near St Petersburg. It was last seen in Königsberg, then a Baltic port city in Germany but now the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

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As Covid cases rise again, how are countries in Europe reacting?

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Tighter measures are being imposed, but they vary across the continent

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‘No place in EU’: Ursula von der Leyen speaks out against Poland’s LGBT-free zones – video

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In her first ‘state of union’ speech, the European commission president said Poland’s LGBT-free zones were ‘humanity-free zones’ that had no place in the EU in her strongest criticism yet of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party.

It comes amid a dispute between the EU and Poland over the rule of law, since the country embarked on policies that weaken independent courts.

Von der Leyen said the EU was ‘a union where you can be who you are and love who you want to without fear and recrimination’.

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Ursula von der Leyen says Poland’s ‘LGBT-free zones’ have no place in EU

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In her first ‘state of union’ speech, European commission president delivers criticism of Polish ruling party

The head of the European commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has said Poland’s “LGBT free zones” are “humanity-free zones” that have no place in the European Union in her strongest criticism yet of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party.

In a wide-ranging 77-minute speech spanning from coronavirus to the climate emergency, Von der Leyen pledged to build “a union of equality” and criticised European member states that watered down EU foreign policy messages on human rights.

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Global report: schools across Europe reopen as Covid cases grow

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Parents and teachers fear face masks and other measures not enough to prevent second wave

Tens of millions of pupils, most wearing face masks, have headed back to class in France, Belgium, Poland and Russia, as schools across Europe cautiously reopened amid spiralling numbers of new coronavirus cases in several countries.

Parents and teachers around the continent have expressed fears that strict physical distancing and hygiene measures such as hand cleansing stations will not be able to prevent a second Covid-19 wave, maybe coinciding with the autumn flu season.

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