Global Courant
Half a million protesters took to the center of Warsaw on Sunday, opposition organizers in Poland said, claiming it was the largest anti-government demonstration in 30 years since the end of communism.
Lech Walesa, former Polish president, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and leader of the fight against communism, has joined opposition figures at the head of the march.
The protest was organized before the legislative elections, which are held in Poland in the fall of this year, according to REL.
People have traveled from across the country as former prime minister Donald Tusk, leader of the centre-right opposition party Civil Platform (PO), called for protests “against high living costs, against lies, for democracy, for free elections, and for the European Union”.
Leaders of most opposition parties have called on supporters to join the march against the ruling Law and Justice party, which is headed by Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
“It is estimated that the number of protesters is 500,000 now”, said the spokesman of the protest organizers, Jan Grabiec.
Protesters were seen holding the inscriptions “Enough is enough”, “No to authoritarian Poland”, and they blamed the ruling party for the increase in prices.
Once the leader of the European Council, Tusk has told protesters that the role of the opposition is “of the same importance” as it was in the 1980s.
Walesa, who has not been active in politics for some time, told the protesters that he is waiting for the day when the nationalist party and Kaczynski will leave power.
“Mr. Kaczynski, we have come for you. That day has come,” said Walesa.
The protest of June 4 was held on the day when the 34th anniversary of partially free elections was marked in Poland, after the fall of communism in Europe.
Walesa became the nation’s first democratically elected president in 1990.
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