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The predominantly older supporters of the national conservative opposition party PiS first gathered in front of the parliament building in Warsaw on Thursday and later walked to the government headquarters. They carried Polish flags and posters that read: “This is Poland, not Tuskoland” And “Minister of Culture – Minister of Censorship”.

Warsaw City Hall estimates there were 35,000 participants, but a party spokesman put the number at almost 200,000.

During his appearance before the demonstrators, PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski warned that the EU intended to “liquidate the Polish homeland” and reduce it to a “residential area for Poles”. The PiS assumes that Tusk is acting on behalf of Germany. Referring to Tusk’s pro-European coalition government, which has been in power for almost a month, Kaczynski said:

The “Protest of the Free Poles”, organized by the national conservatives who were voted out in October, was to take place originally aimed against the restructuring of public media. A few weeks ago, Tusk’s government began restructuring the television station TVP, Polish Radio and the PAP news agency. She accuses them of spreading party propaganda in recent years under the PiS government. International organizations had also criticized the one-sided reporting by public media in Poland.

Politicians as ‘political prisoners’

However, the dispute over the arrest of two legally convicted PiS politicians has shifted the focus of the demonstration. Former Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski and his former State Secretary Maciej Wasik were arrested and taken to prison on Tuesday after initially seeking protection from Head of State Andrzej Duda at the presidential palace. The PiS describes the two as “political prisoners”.

Kaminski and Wasik had appealed to the Warsaw court in December sentenced to two years in prison for abuse of office and should begin their punishment. Duda granted the two pardons after an initial trial in 2015. However, the Supreme Court declared this pardon unlawful, because the appeal procedure was still ongoing at that time. Duda announced on Thursday shortly before the start of the demonstration that he wanted to pardon Kaminski and Wasik for the second time.

Party leader Kaczynski called on demonstrators to hold short protests in front of the two detention centers where Kaminski and Wasik are housed. (yam/sda/dpa)