Warsaw: Authorities in Poland stepped up security in the capital on Sunday ahead of a march planned by eurosceptic leaders and far-right groups to celebrate a century of national independence.
The march is a focus of debate about whether the conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) party of government tacitly encourages groups with roots in the fascist and anti-Semitic movements.
Last year, an annual march organised each November 11 by the far right for nearly a decade in Warsaw was dotted with racist banners such as “pure blood, clear mind” and “Europe will be white or uninhabited”.
The slogans fuelled concern about the rise of xenophobia in Poland at a time when other European countries are also grappling with a resurgence of the far right.
Warsaw’s city mayor sought to ban this year’s march but a court overruled her. The government then agreed with organisers after last-minute talks to hold a joint event to mark a 100 years since Poland’s 1918 declaration of independence after an 18th century partition by Russia, Austria and Germany.
PiS says it rejects anti-Semitism and racism but critics accuse it of quietly siding with the far-right.
Read the article by Joanna Plucinska & Pawel Sobczak in The Sydney Morning Herald (Reuters).