Martial law protest marks 30th anniversary

Outside Jaruzelski's house: photo - PAP/Pawel Supernak

As protesters chanted 'Nuremberg for communists' and 'Honour and glory to heroes', Jaruzelski, the man who called for the security forces to imprison and crush the Solidarity trade union leadership on 13 December 1981, was in hospital where is having chemotherapy for lymphoma.

During the demonstration organized by the Social Committee of Remembrance for Victims of Martial Law, names of the over 90 victims of martial law were read out.

Some of the protesters held up banners of far-right organisations such as the National Rebirth of Poland (NOP) and the National Radical Camp (ONR).

One of those imprisoned by the communists, Adam Slomka from the Confederation of Polish Independence (KPR), complained that General Jaruzelski has gone unpunished for crimes against the Polish nation and claimed former communist officials had virtual “impunity before the law” in present day Poland, which still lacks “elementary mechanisms of justice”.

As the demonstrators gathered for what has become an annual vigil outside General Jaruzelski's home, President Bronislaw Komorowski, himself a Solidarity veteran and First Lady Anna lit a candle of remembrance to those who died in the protests that followed the imposition of the crackdown.

Earlier a concert was given in Plac Konstytucji by bands popular during the early 1980s, including Kryzys and Fabrika. – 13. The event passed off peacefully, police informed.

Today, a number of events are planned to mark the 30th anniversary, culminating in a march led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, chairman of the Law and Justice opposition party this evening. (pg)