Greenlight for Poland’s Independence March as Warsaw mayor bows to pressure

Ordo Iuris

On October 23, Warsaw’s Public Information Bulletin finally published a notice of acceptance for the Nov. 11 Independence March. This means that the largest such patriotic demonstration in Europe will once again process through the streets of Warsaw, as it has for the past 14 years, despite another attempt to ban it this year.

Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski first issued a decision banning the Independence March Association from organizing other demonstrations to be held in connection with the March. He also refused to publish information about the Nov. 11 March in the Public Information Bulletin, citing the significant traffic and residential obstructions that this march of an estimated one hundred thousand people would cause.

In the end, however, the city hall bowed to the wave of criticism, although Trzaskowski’s ruling camp has made no secret of its dislike for the Independence March and stripped the event of the cyclical-event status it enjoyed from 2017 to 2023. This, in turn, forces organizers to compete with other entities to reserve the March’s traditional route every year on November 11. As March leaders envisioned, attempts were indeed made by unknown applicants to usurp the March’s traditional route.

In September, by order of the prosecutor’s office, the headquarters of the Independence March Association was raided by the police, who conducted a search and requisitioned a number of documents and electronic devices. In this case, lawyers of the Ordo Iuris Institute, representing the Independence March Association, filed a complaint against decisions of the prosecutor’s office and the search-and-seizure procedures.

In addition, the Ordo Iuris Institute and the Independence March Association prepared a petition to stop unlawful attacks on the event. In the end, the Warsaw mayor published a notice on the Nov. 11 assembly in the Public Information Bulletin. This means that the Independence March will be organized legally.