"Zomo! Gestapo!" cried the participants of the Equality March in response to the brutal intervention of the police. First of all, youths from the Młodzież Wszechpolska [extreme right youth organisation associated with political party LPR] and neofascists threw eggs against the protestors, and then the police, kicking and twisting arms, detained the demonstrators sitting on the ground. 68 people were detained.

video (32Mb, .asf) | photos [1] [2] [3] [4] | solidarity: protest letter (en) - (pl) | the Equality March keeps going!

On Saturday 19 November 2005 in Poznań the Equality March took place, or rather, should have taken place. It was hoped to display tolerance, equal rights, women's rights and against discrimination against people of other sexual orientations. Until now, all marches of this type in Poland have been confronted by enmity from politicians: conservatives talked about "immoral, upsetting promotion of homosexuality", neoliberals made the marches illegal for reasons of "lack of security". The Młodzież Wszechpolska youths call participants of the Equality Marches homo-terrorists. The Board Secretary of Młodzież Wszechpolska, Mariusz Tomczak, wrote that: "...Leftists and anarchists are the enemies of democracy, who question legal order and dream of turning society upside down." This time it was similar - the march was made illegal by the authorities [Mayor Grobel (with support from PO); the ban was also supported by regional leader Nowakowski from the SLD] and attacked by fighters and police.

The Mayor of Poznań has already banned 11 demonstrations [by the Free Caucasus Committee (Komitet Wolny Kaukaz = KWK) - a coalition of groups protesting against the war in the Caucasus], and was found by the courts to have acted illegally. After giving his 12th march ban (this time for the Equality March) with the reason "lack of the possibility of ensuring security", it was clear, that participating in the march would be an act of civil disobedience and that at the demonstration there would be representatives of many different groups: feminists, anarchists, lefists, and also artists.

Anarchists on this day started their protest during the afternoon in front of Mayor Grobel's house. Over 20 people with the banner "Tolerance yes, politicians no" whistled, distributed flyers to neighbours and called out slogans ("Every authority kills freedom", "Freedom of speech and freedom to meet"). Even though it was clear that someone was at home, nobody came out to give any responses to the accusations.

The Equality March itself could not take place. There were a dozen or so police vans standing around all the roads leading to the point from where the march was supposed to start. A few hundred protestors right from the beginning were surrounded from both sides by very tight police cordons. Behind them from both sides gathered aggressive nazis, Młodzież Wszechpolska and "football-skinheads". Nobody could get to the middle. After ineffective attempts to start the march, the demonstrators started to form a circle yelling "Let's demonstrate in a circle". In answer to eggs, thrown at the demonstrators, the response was "These show a mockery of democracy [pun in polish to do with eggs]". There were police lines standing with their shields facing the aggressive right-wing extremists, and also facing the demonstrators. They started asking for identity papers both from the aggressive right-wing extremists and from some people inside the demonstration (most often those holding banners). Slogans called out included "Freedom, equality, mutual help", "We have the right to demonstrate" and to the skinheads: "Fascist pigs, cannot crush freedom".

After an hour, the police started to pull individuals out of the crowd and detain them. In answer, about 40 demonstrators sat on the ground and holding each other by the hand yelled out "This is your democracy!". Even though nobody was aggressive, the police reacted violently to the peaceful sit-in - police in balaclavas started to grab people by the hands and by the hair, a dozen or so people were brutally pulled along the pavement to police vans. Police twisted arms and kicked people sitting on the ground. People cried out: "ZOMO!", "Gestapo!", "Release them!". After 20 minutes, police withdrew because of the lack of space in their vans. Five full vans, with over 60 people inside, went out to various police stations. Ewa Wojciak, an actor from the 8 Day Theatre, who was associated in the past with the democratic opposition, said to the press: "I want to cry. I saw police pull a man with his head on the ground, women were pulled by their hair. None of these young people insulted anyone, noone was aggressive, they demonstrated peacefully in order to defend tolerance. We fought so many years for democracy, and I thought that we already had it, but I see that there is never enough reminding people about the basics of democratic law."

Immediately after the detentions, the next protest started in front of one of the police stations. During this solidarity protest, 3 more people carrying a banner "No more repression for one's point of view" were detained.

In reaction to the repression, a protest letter (pl) was prepared, from which we cite: "We feel deeply concerned about the developing process of limiting and violating human rights in Poland. We wish to live in a country, which guarantees equal treatment for citizens independently of their age, sex, sexual preference, skin colour, religious beliefs or political beliefs. In our opinion, Poland is presently not such a country. Poland is a country of discrimination. We express our disagreement with this." Well-known personalities from the cultural community, journalists and social actors have signed it.

All those detained were released the same day. Among those detained, were activists from various groups, actors, and others. If court cases take place, this will undoubtedly be political proceedings. "We will certainly lay a complaint about Mayor Grobel's decision and we're counting on legal help from the Helsinki Foundation, who is with us", stated one of the detained organisers, Marta Jermaczek from the Greens 2004. Many normal procedures and legal principles were violated. Police didn't contact the organisers. There was no clear request to disperse. As well, when we were expected to disperse, we were still closed in by very tight police cordons, and outside of these were the football-fan-skinheads. We were afraid of the them. Those detained point out that they don't just want to make a media event, but they still want to go out in the streets.

Two weeks earlier, several groups from 9 towns around Poland organised protests against the wave of political repression

Reports from the protests (pl):
Lublin | Wrocław | Kraków | Szczecin | Katowice | Poznań | Warszawa | Łódź | Częstochowa | Gdańsk.

Now several tens of people have court cases to deal with for their participation in the demonstrations, during which police brutally intervened several times. Recently, Marek Kurzyniec (Anarchist Federation - Kraków) was held for 15 days' arrest for his participation in a demonstration against the war in the Caucasus. Another protestor, Andrzej Smosarski from the Red Collective-Left Alternative (Czerwony Kolektyw-Lewicowa Alternatywa) was sentenced to a fine, commuted to 100 days under arrest, for his participation in a workers' protest. Everything looks like going to prison. A dozen or so people in the country are threatened by this. More information No more repression for one's point of view

Please send protest letters! (en)

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