Protests in Poland (2016)

Previous Seimas meeting

The immediate reason for the start of the protests was the decision of the Sejm of Poland to limit the work of journalists in the parliament building, when members of the press were forbidden to be directly in the conference room, and were only allowed to watch the broadcast of debates ^[1] .

The decision of the Sejm caused sharp criticism of the representative of the opposition party "Civil Platform" Michal Scherba . The deputy criticized the decision as part of the discussion of the budget bill, after which he was suspended from participation in the parliamentary session. In response to the dismissal of the deputy, the opposition blocked the rostrum in the conference room for several hours, after which the majority moved to another Seym hall, where work continued on the budget ^[1] . During this meeting, several laws were adopted, including the budget for 2017 , voting was carried out by raising hands. In total, 236 deputies took part in the vote, 234 voted in favor of the draft budget for 2017, while all opposition amendments were rejected. According to the opposition, this vote is illegal, since there was no quorum and therefore demanded that a meeting of the Seimas be convened on December 20 . In turn, the leader of the ruling party, Yaroslav Kaczynski, stated that there was a quorum and the meeting at which the budget was adopted was legal ^[2] .

Protests

On the evening of December 16, 2016, opposition forces took hundreds of their supporters to the street, which blocked the exits from the Sejm ^[3] . The protests continued all night, the protesters were driven back by the police, who used tear gas , and the deputies of the ruling party (including Yaroslav Kaczynski ) were able to leave the Sejm ^[4] .

On December 17, 2016, the protests continued all day; several thousand people gathered for a mass rally near the presidential palace ^[5] . The protests were supported by a number of prominent politicians, including Deputy Marshal of the Sejm Malgožata Kidava Blonska , leader of the Civic Platform Grzegorz Schetyna and leader of the Committee for the Defense of Democracy Mateusz Kijowski ^[6] .

In addition to Warsaw, rallies also covered a number of large cities in Poland - Wroclaw , Krakow , Gdansk , Poznan , Szczecin , Katowice , Olsztyn , Bialystok , Lublin , Kielce and Plock ^{[7] [8]} .

On December 18, rallies continued both in Warsaw and in other cities - for example, in Krakow, protesters tried to block the cars of Vice Marshal of the Sejm Ryszard Terletski and the leader of the ruling party, Jaroslav Kaczynski ^[9] . Meanwhile, in Warsaw, a protest rally also took place near the building of the Constitutional Court , which was timed to the end of the powers of the head of the Constitutional Court, Andrzej Zeplinsky , who had previously criticized the actions of the authorities and the reform of the court in particular, which caused a constitutional crisis ^[10] , later the protest column again moved to the parliament building ^[11] . On the same day, a rally was held in support of the current government near the presidential palace ^[12] . By the evening of December 18, the parliamentary opposition rally was officially completed, while some groups of protesters remained at the building with the intention of spending the night there ^[13] . Meanwhile, opposition deputies continued to block the work of the Sejm ^[14] .

On December 20, 2016, the restriction on the work of journalists in parliament was announced ^[15] . Nevertheless, the opposition’s protests continued, on that day another demonstration was held under the walls of the Seimas, new demonstrations were announced for January 2017 ^[16] . Grzegorz Schetyna announced that the opposition continues to remain in the Seimas conference room and intends to remain there until at least January 11, 2017 ^[17] .

On January 11, 2017, the leader of the Civic Platform, Grzegorz Schetyna, announced the termination of the protest in the plenary room of the Polish Sejm in connection with the achievement of the original goal and at the same time called for the resignation of the Speaker of the Sejm Marek Kuhcinski in connection with his disagreement with the draft budget for 2017 ^{[ 18]} .

Reaction

Minister of the Interior Mariusz Blaschak said that the events that occurred in the Sejm and the protests that followed them were an attempt to seize power ^{[19] [20]} .

Prime Minister Beata Shidlo criticized the opposition’s actions, urging politicians to cooperate and show responsibility ^[21] , saying that the reason for the protests is the opposition’s unwillingness to accept the defeat in the election ^[22] .

President Andrzej Duda expressed hope for an early resolution of the situation and announced his readiness to mediate in the resolution of the conflict ^[23] .

The leader of the Kukiz'15 party, Pavel Kukiz, said that parliament’s actions could lead to the threat of civil war in the country ^[24] .

With the support of protesters and with an appeal to the Polish authorities to “respect people, constitutional principles and values”, the head of the European Council and former Prime Minister of Poland from the “Civil Platform” Donald Tusk ^{[25] [26]} .

The first president of post-communist Poland, Lech Walesa , sharply criticized the Polish authorities, saying that the ruling Law and Justice party was unable to rule the country, calling the party’s governance style “old-Soviet” ^[27] and called for new elections ^[28] . On December 18, Walesa urged President Andrzej Dudu to resign. ^[29]