Yahoo – AFP,
September 24, 2016
People attend the anti-government demonstration of the Committee for the Defence of Democracy movement (KOD) in Warsaw, Poland on September 24, 2016 (AFP Photo/Wojtek Radwanski) |
Varsovie
(AFP) - Tens of thousands of protesters hit the streets of the Polish capital
Warsaw Saturday to rally against moves by the rightwing Law and Justice
government that they say undermine the rule of law.
Warsaw City
Hall officials said up to 30,000 people took part in the demonstration
organised by the Committee for the Defence of Democracy (KOD).
The protest
targeted reforms of the Constitutional Court that the populist PiS government
pushed through soon after it swept to power late last year.
The changes
to the top court's decision-making rules, which according to the opposition
were intended to paralyse the institution, have notably alarmed the European
Union and triggered a string of demonstrations across the country.
Adam
Michnik, a leading journalist, leftwing intellectual and former dissident in
Poland's historic anti-communist Solidarity union, warned the PiS it would
suffer the consequences of its actions at the ballot box.
"The
KOD doesn't want to overthrow the government... it wants the government of
Jaroslaw Kaczynski to respect the law and the Constitution, but if they don't
comply, society will be obliged to remove them from power through democratic
elections," Michnik said.
Although he
holds no government office, PiS party leader Kaczynski is widely regarded as
the real powerbroker of Prime Minister Beata Szydlo's administration.
"We
cannot accept politics that isolate Poland and trigger conflicts with
neighbours," Michnik added.
In late
July, the European Commission handed Warsaw a three-month deadline to reverse
the changes to the top court or face sanctions for breaching EU norms on the
rule of law and democracy.
Without a
satisfactory response in three months, the Commission, the European Parliament
or a group of 10 member states can propose Poland be stripped of its voting
rights in EU institutions if it is guilty of serious and persistent breaches of
the rule of law.
Kaczynski
has responded by saying the European Commission was acting illegally:
"This process is totally outside the EU's treaties."
Women
demonstrating against proposed changes to Poland's restrictive abortion
law
that would effectively ban terminations in the EU country of 38 million people
(AFP, by Stanislaw Waszak)
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