Hundreds of thousands from people gathered in central Warsaw on Sunday for a rally organized by opposition leader Donald Tusk, two weeks before a crucial election that will have major implications for Poland’s future political course and its role in Europe.
As a hard-fought and vicious election campaign enters its final round, Tusk had called on his supporters to show strength in Warsaw and mobilize the opposition. Victory was in sight, he claimed.
“A breakthrough is coming in the history of our homeland,” he told the large crowd at the start of the rally, his words echoing through the surrounding streets from rows of loudspeakers set up in several locations. “No one in the ruling team should have any illusions. Changes for the better are inevitable,” he added.
Tusk claimed more than a million people took part in the march, dubbed the “March of a Million Hearts”, while Warsaw police claimed the number was around 100,000. The online news channel Onet.pl put the number at 600,000 to 800,000.
Large parts of Warsaw’s city center stood still as people carrying Polish and EU flags and banners with various funny or angry slogans streamed through the streets, attacking the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party.
“Nobody believed that such crowds and such emotions could happen again in our history. “This is a sign of the great Polish resurgence,” Tusk said.
The March of a Million Hearts rally in Warsaw, Poland. Photo: Kacper Pempel/PortalTusk was Prime Minister of Poland between 2007 and 2014 before leaving Poland to become President of the European Council. He has returned to Polish politics to lead the opposition campaign, which he says is the last chance to save Polish democracy.
PiS came to power in 2015 and pursued a right-wing populist agenda combined with increased social spending, which earned it strong support in rural areas. At the same time, the party has curtailed the rights of women and minorities and has been accused of democratic regression.
Polls suggest PiS will do slightly better than Tusk’s Citizens’ Coalition, and the final outcome will likely depend on the performance of several smaller parties and the arithmetic surrounding coalition building.
PiS leaders held their own event in the city of Katowice on Sunday, coinciding with the Tusk march. They continued their campaign strategy of portraying opposition leaders as foreign stooges and used Tusk’s years in Brussels to claim that he was now responsible for German interests.
“This vote is not just about what Poland will look like. “It’s about whether Poland will even exist,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki claimed, brandishing a file containing damaging information about Tusk, who had a “German vision” for Poland’s future.
A large part of Tusk’s campaign was reclaiming the language of patriotism for the opposition, resulting in the red and white hearts that have become the campaign’s symbol. On Sunday, thousands of participants in the rally waved red and white Polish flags.
“I see a sea of red and white banners… we all share the view that our red and white homeland can once again be the home of free people,” Tusk said.
The years of PiS rule have seen a takeover of public media, rising tensions with Brussels and the introduction of some of Europe’s toughest anti-abortion laws.
Rafał Trzaskowski, mayor of Warsaw’s Civic Coalition, also spoke at the rally and said he hoped the elections would lead to a “more open and tolerant” Poland.
“We are marching so that children don’t have to watch their mothers being beaten for fighting for their rights… so that no one attacks children with rainbow carrier bags who are fighting for their rights,” Trzaskowski said.
While the size of the rally will undoubtedly give new impetus to opposition forces as they enter the final stages of the campaign, most observers say the final outcome of the election still cannot be predicted with certainty.
“It’s amazing to see so many happy, smiling people in one place and get a glimpse of what a different place Poland could be,” said 41-year-old Joanna from Wroclaw, who arrived with her two teenage daughters Warsaw traveled to attend the rally.
“But I’m still very worried that PiS can win again, and then I’m worried about myself, but especially about these two and their future in this country.”
Additional reporting by Katarzyna Piasecka