The mayor of Warsaw banned right-wing Polish nationalists from marching for the 100th anniversary of Poland's Independence Day over security concerns and were planning to host an all-inclusive march for all Polish citizens on Saturday, according to The Associated Press.
The populist government has already faced criticisms from the European Union but made the decision to possibly alienate some far-right voters to prevent potential violence from extremists participating in the march.
Warsaw Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz said she wanted to end the yearly presence of nationalists which occur at far-right marches which have drawn tens of thousands to the Polish capital.
Some marchers carried anti-Muslim signs and banners which called for a "White Europe" while others wore shirts and patches that included white supremacist symbols.
The violent outbursts from the marchers against counterprotesters drew heavy media coverage and international criticism for the Polish government's hands-off approach to the march.
A number of members of European Parliament called those marchers fascists, which the right-wing conservative Polish government objected to since they said the majority of those participating in the event were not carrying the racist or white supremacist signs.
"In June, I issued a letter to Minister [of the Interior Joachim] Brudzinski, proposing to jointly secure the events organized in Warsaw on November 11. My letter was completely ignored," Gronkiewicz-Waltz said during a press conference on Wednesday while noting how Warsaw "already suffered because of aggressive nationalism".
Poland is preparing for the 100th anniversary of the march this weekend after it gained its independence in 1919 at the end of World War I.
"This is not how the celebrations should look on the 100th anniversary of regaining our independence," Gronkiewicz-Waltz told a news conference about the decision. "Warsaw has suffered enough because of aggressive nationalism."
The mayor also explained how the chief organizer of the far-right march was also the leader of the National Radical Camp, which stems from an anti-Semitic movement that began during the 1930s.
"The capital city saved the honor of the country," the liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza wrote in praise of her decision.
Gronkiewicz-Waltz also discussed how the violent marchers were still not charged
"For a year, no indictment has been made regarding the events at the Independence arch in 2017, although the prosecutor, which we know from the media, is in possession of expert opinion about the presence of banned ideologies at the Independence March," she said.
President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced they would be holding a march organized by the government in Warsaw on Sunday.
Duda's spokesman Blazej Spychalski called on Warsaw residents to show how "we are one white-and-red team."
PM Morawiecki said the government attempted to hold talks with the nationalists to hold their march without the banners, but they refused.
The mayor of Wroclaw in western Poland announced a similar ban on the grounds that the march could incite racial and ethnic hatred.
Officials said the bans came after other extremist and nationalist organizations across Europe were planning to travel to Warsaw to participate in the march.
Polish police officers were also staging walk-outs this week which raised officials' concerns the clashes between marchers and counterprotesters would have inadequate security.
The Warsaw independence march had been held annually since 2010.
The Independence March association's representative Tomasz Kalinowski tweeted the event will go ahead as planned on Sunday in spite of the ban.
"The Independence March will take place. The legal team of the Independence March association is currently preparing an appeal to the ban by Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz," Kalinowski wrote.
The European Parliament issued a resolution which called on all member countries to take action against hate speech and neo-fascist violence across Europe in October, with last year's Warsaw march cited as an example of that violence.
-WN.com, Maureen Foody
Photo:
AP / Czarek Sokolowski