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The anti-fascists blocked the march again in 2011, when the numbers in the Independence March grew bigger. As a consequence, thousands attended what used to be a much smaller Independence March, as the far-right ranks were thickened by more moderate conservatives and nationalists. Much of Poland’s conservative media depicted the planned blocking of the march as an attempt to stifle natural expressions of patriotic feeling. That year, Polish liberals and leftists spoke out strongly against the exacerbated nationalist and far-right overtones of the march and planned for a block (eventually successful). In 2010, however, the march became a major social event and its history since speaks volumes about Polish society. The parade was made up of thousands of teenagers and young men with no better options for belonging and expressing their feelings than joining football hooligan groups and eventually far-right actions. One of the saddest things about the Independence March this year was the large proportion of youth among its ranks. It marks the steady rise of the far right in Polish politics and society which so far has not been addressed by the authorities and faces only sporadic resistance from parts of the general public.Īn Independence March has been organised yearly since 1989 on November 11, Poland’s Independence Day, when people celebrate renewed statehood achieved in 1918 after the Polish lands had been partitioned for more than a century by Russia, Prussia and Austria. The aggression which spilled through the streets of Warsaw is not an isolated event. After about two hours of marching and attacking the Russian embassy, the Polish police asked that the permit for the march be cancelled. Within one hour of the start of the demonstration, participants had attacked two squats in the centre of Warsaw (Syrena and Przychodnia) and burnt down a rainbow installation in Plac Zbawicela, an artistic installation standing for diversity. The parade, with the number of protesters set at around 15,000, was organised by two of the most prominent far-right organisations in the country, the All-Polish Youth and the National-Radical Camp.įew passers-by dared to stick around and watch the spectacle. Row after row of mostly male youth marched along the boulevard spilling into sidewalks and side streets.They carried flags with Celtic crosses and white power fists, chanted slogans with visceral force and filled the centre of the city with fire-cracker smoke. Warsaw’s main boulevard, Marszalkowska, and neighbouring areas turned into a war zone on the Independence Day March on November 11.