7,000 people demonstrated in Warsaw on Saturday against “illegal immigration” and the pro-European government of Donald Tusk, just eight days before the first round of the Polish presidential election.
Protesters from across the country, responding to a call from nationalist organisations, waved white and red national flags while chanting “this is Poland” and “no to immigration.”
Immigration has become a key issue in the electoral campaign ahead of the presidential poll on 18 May.
Poland hosts approximately one million Ukrainian refugees and is facing what Warsaw claims is a migration wave orchestrated by Minsk and Moscow.
The nationalist opposition also accuses Donald Tusk’s pro-European government of having “surrendered” to Germany on immigration matters, alleging that Berlin is flooding Poland with migrants.
Protesters marched towards the government headquarters in the city centre, also chanting the name of Karol Nawrocki, a conservative presidential candidate backed by the opposition Law and Justice party (PiS).
Karol Nawrocki, 42, is currently second in the polls, with about 25% support, trailing behind the frontrunner, Rafal Trzaskowski, who has 32%. Trzaskowski is the candidate of the Civic Coalition, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
A second round of the election, scheduled for 1 June, seems inevitable to determine who will succeed the conservative President Andrzej Duda, as his second and final term comes to an end.
Polls suggest a tight race between Rafal Trzaskowski and Karol Nawrocki.
