November 11, Independence Day, is the biggest national holiday in Poland. It commemorates the fact that Poland regained its independent statehood at the end of the First World War, in November 1918, after 123 years of division.
The participants of the march traditionally held by the national circles on this occasion, including many young people and many families with children, marched under national flags, chanting patriotic slogans, across the city center, across the Poniatowski Bridge to the other side of the Vistula, to the National Stadium.
This year, the march was officially supported by the main opposition party, Law and Justice (PiS), several of whose politicians, including former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, participated in the demonstration. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the president of PiS, called the unity of the patriotic forces necessary at the press conference before the march, because, as he said, the Polish rule of law is currently in danger, and it is necessary to stand up in defense of Christian values.
In his speech opening the march, Krzysztof Bosak, a politician from the opposition Confederation and vice president of the Sejm, spoke about the need to preserve state sovereignty and national unity.
The march was secured by a volunteer guard set up by the organizers. The authorities did not report any major incidents. Before the event, however, the police detained 75 people who were going to the march, and according to the Budapest police headquarters, they confiscated a lot of pyrotechnic devices and drugs.
A central state commemoration was organized at noon in the Polish capital. In his celebratory speech, President Andrzej Duda also spoke about security policy topics and called it a dream that Europe would be able to guarantee its own security on its own. He added that it was recently revealed that, for example, Europe's stockpiles of ammunition "would only be sufficient for a few days on the front protecting Ukraine from Russian aggression."
He argued that during the Cold War, all Western countries spent more than 3 percent of their GDP on defense. "Today's Russia will not be able to win either," Duda emphasized, but the West must draw strength from "iron-willed cooperation with the United States."
At X, Prime Minister Donald Tusk called a "strong, well-armed, united in matters of sovereignty and security" Poland a "common national task". Tusk was not present at the state commemorations. According to the Warsaw Prime Minister's Office, he underwent planned medical treatment on Sunday and will return to his official duties on Wednesday.
MTI
Cover photo: Gazeta Polska Facebook
