Just one day before the 15th anniversary of a tragic air crash in which Poland’s then-president, his wife and numerous other state officials perished, activists from the Last Generation climate movement vandalised a monument in central Warsaw dedicated to the 96 victims and staged an occupation of the site.
‼️Teraz: Schody Smoleńskie oblane krwią przez Ostatnie Pokolenie. “Lecimy w stronę katastrofy” pic.twitter.com/chZ5dmrmGD
— Ostatnie Pokolenie (@OstatniePokolen) April 9, 2025
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The air crash took place in Smolensk, Russia, on April 10 2010, killing president Lech Kaczyński, his wife Maria and dozens of high ranking state officials who were travelling to attend a memorial to the victims of the Katyń massacre of Polish officers committed by Soviet forces during the Second World War.
“We are flying towards catastrophe,” wrote the Polish chapter of Last Generation protestors on X on April 9, adding a video of one of their activists on top of the monument, which takes the form of a giant set of steps.
The activist poured a red liquid over the monument and unfurled a banner in support of the organisation’s climate cause.
He then remained on top of the memorial and demanded talks with Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the man Last Generation accused of being “co-responsible for the billions of deaths that will be caused by the end of the century by the climate crisis fuelled by politicians and the rich”.
Two other activists dressed in black laid wreaths beneath the monument. “We remember the tragic deaths of the Smolensk disaster and we want to prevent billions more,” wrote Last Generation.
The man at the top of the monument was removed after three hours and has been charged by the police.
Barbara Nowacka, education minister, whose mother Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka, a former deputy prime minister, was among the victims of the Smolensk air crash, slammed the protests.
“This is stupid and wrong. No respect for the victims and the families’ memories. You’re just alienating everyone,” wrote Nawrocka on social media.
Last Generation has been holding protests regularly in Poland with its members blocking busy roads during peak hours, including by gluing themselves to the surfaces.
Last December, Tusk promised “decisive action” against such actions that have been roundly condemned for disruption and endangering public safety.
Opposition Conservative (PiS) MP Sebastian Kaleta, tough pointed out that the Tusk government-allied Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, standing for president in May’s election, had been subsidising Last Generation with city office space rented at knock-down prices.
The Smolensk monument in Warsaw has often been the site of protests. In 2023, a man climbed on to it and threatened to blow himself up before being safely removed from the structure.
The memorial has also been the site for clashes between the supporters of the PiS, led by Jarosław Kaczyński, the identical twin brother of the deceased president, and opponents who accused him of perpetrating “false narratives” about the crash.
An investigation by the Russian aircraft accident investigator MAK blamed the Polish pilots of the plane for the air disaster while an investigation by the previous Tusk government in 2010 also apportioned some of the blame to the Russian air traffic controllers.
Kaczyński and PiS have throughout the past 15 years, including the 2015-2023 period in which they were in government, cited the Russians for the crash, arguing there must have been explosives on board the plane. They have failed to produce any verifiable evidence for the theory.
