Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, an ally of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, has refused permission for a group allied with the Polish Right to hold the annual Independence Day March on November 11.
Officials said the refusal was on procedural grounds, but conservative lawyers argue that the mayor is “guilty of violating the constitutional right of free assembly”.
Warsaw municipal authorities on October 14 claimed the organisers of the march, the Independence Day Association had failed to submit properly the application to register the gathering and a court in Warsaw on October 17 upheld that decision.
City Hall said the group had submitted a series of applications for the event that were each “practically identical” apart from listing different starting dates over a period of 16 days and that this was not acceptable. That was because it was perceived to be a tactic to gain an advantage over organisers of other potential events that may wish to register in Warsaw on the same day
The municipal authorities have also claimed that assessments by the police, fire, public transport and emergency medical services found the details outlined in the applications would have a “very negative impact on the functioning of the city.”
The Independence Day Association has claimed the submission of multiple applications was “only made after the government’s regional prefect refused the organisation the right of holding annual demonstrations on November 11”. Therefore, multiple applications were made to ensure the march went ahead on the day “without it being blocked by other demonstrations registering purely as spoilers to block the national event”.
The organisers and the Ordo Iuris think-tank of Conservative lawyers also argued that by refusing an administrative hearing on the independence day application and simply refusing permission for the event “Mayor Trzaskowski is guilty of violating the constitutional right of free assembly”.
It is not the first time that City Hall has attempted to stop the demonstration, which every year is attended by tens of thousands of people, going ahead on the grounds that the organisers failed to ensure it was safe. However supporters say no crimes were committed during the event. Up until now the courts have sided with the organisers and allowed the event to go ahead
In September this year, the police raided the offices of the Independence Day Association as part of an investigation into an incident during the event in 2018, which the authorities claim included one of the organisers’ volunteers issuing threats against members of the public.
The Independence Day march takes place on November 11, marking the day in 1918 when Poland regained its independence after more than a century of partition by Russia, Prussia and Austria-Hungary. It has in past years been marked by clashes with police and reports of xenophobic chants and banners, although the incidents have only related to the activities of some hard-right groups.
In recent years, when the Conservative PiS was in power, the march passed off peacefully without, claim the organisers, any provocation from the police, and only limited small-scale counter-demonstrations.
The Independence Day Association’s appeal against city hall’s decision has so far been refused by a court in Warsaw but the interior minister Tomasz Siemoniak has told reporters that he was certain the problems over registration could be resolved and that the event would go ahead because “the right of free assembly is and will be respected”.
This year’s Independence March would be the first since PiS was removed from office last December and replaced by a Liberal ruling coalition led by Tusk and his Civic Coalition (KO), of which mayor Trzaskowski is deputy leader.
Mariusz Błaszczak, the head of PiS’ parliamentary caucus, has condemned Trzaskowski for the decision to refuse permission for the march, writing on X that “no one will take away the right of Poles to celebrate Independence Day,” and that the march will go ahead regardless of Trzaskowski’s prohibitions.
PiS had usually distanced itself from the Independence Day March, preferring to concentrate on an event in the city of Kraków instead. Still, this year the leader of PiS Jarosław Kaczyński has said he would attend the Warsaw march, thereby apparently giving it the major opposition party’s seal of political approval.
