Three arrested after shocking “death to Jews” march in Poland
Three men have been arrested so far in connection with the shocking “death to Jews” march in Poland last week.
The rally took place last Thursday – Poland’s Independence Day – in Kalisz, in the centre of the country. Participants marched to the market square chanting “death to enemies of the fatherland.”
Demonstrators also burned a copy of the General Charter of Jewish Liberties, also known as the Statute of Kalisz or the Kalisz Privilege, a medieval document that granted the Jewish community rights and protection in Polish lands.
Upon the burning, Wojciech Olszanski, a far-right activist who organised the march and is also known as Aleksander Jablonowski, said: “We are abolishing Jewish rights in this land!” and “Death to the enemies of Poland!” The crowd responded with chants of “Death! Death! Death!”
Mr Olszanski also declared: “LGBT, pederasts and Zionists are the enemies of Poland.”
Although Government and local officials condemned the far-right rally, in which hundreds participated, and a counter-protest called “Kalisz — free from fascism” was held on Sunday, concerns were raised as to why it took several days for arrests to be made.
Mr Olszanski was arrested, as was Piotr Rybak, who burned an effigy of a Jew. In 2019, he reportedly went to Auschwitz on the anniversary of the death camp’s liberation and said: “It’s time to fight against Jewry and free Poland from them!”
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “This abhorrent neo-Nazi rally is a repulsive testament to the persistence of far-right antisemitism. The promotion of such grotesque views at this march, held on Poland’s Independence Day, does a disservice to Polish patriotism. How this march was approved in the first place, despite the record of its participants, raises serious questions, but we welcome the condemnations of the rally by Polish authorities and the arrests of its ringleaders. They must now suffer the full legal consequences of their actions.”
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