Arson attacks in Zamość and other anti-vaccine attacks. Politicians’ comments

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced on Monday that In Zamość, a sanitary and epidemiological station and a vaccination point were set on fire. He called it “a bandit act.” The fires occurred on the night of Sunday to Monday. He arrived at the scene on Monday Minister of Health Adam Niedzielski. During the press conference, he said that there had been an “act of terror”.

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Opposition politicians reacted to the repeated attacks on vaccination facilities, especially the fire at the point in Zamość.

The head of the parliamentary club of the Left, Krzysztof Gawkowski, assessed that “the government has not recently strengthened the promotion of vaccinations, and the activities of anti-vaccination movements are strengthening”.

– For several days, the actions of the anti-vaccine community have intensified even more and have turned to radicalism – he said. He pointed out that anti-vaccines “get into banditry”, and they also do everything to terrorize the environment that they want to vaccinate.

– The anti-vaccine movement grows stronger and the government is down. As a result, we are dealing with such events as in Zamość – said Gawkowski. – The left wing has been saying for many weeks: we need more promotion of the vaccine campaign – he added.

He argued that PiS deputies had been flirting with the anti-vaccination movement for many months and winked at it, and the PiS government and authorities did not react to it. – It strengthens the feeling of impunity in people who want to terrorize those who want to vaccinate. There can be no consent to it – he emphasized.

– Today there are arson, as in Zamość, tomorrow there will be beatings, and in the following days perhaps murders. Today we have to react strongly, because the lack of a strong reaction will result in greater disasters – added Gawkowski.

Katarzyna Kotula, deputy of the Left, pointed out that the Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro wants to pose as the sheriff, but is helpless in the face of anti-vaccination actions.

– As the Left, we are calling for specific actions and today we come up with a proposal: to extend the 24-hour courts to cases of misdemeanors against critical medical infrastructure – said Kotula.

MP Paweł Krutul read an appeal to the chief of police, Gen. Jarosław Szymczyk, along with questions about whether the perpetrators of the events in Grodzisk Mazowiecki have been charged with criminal charges, whether the perpetrators of the arson attacks in Zamość have been found, and whether the police are planning to secure vaccination points.

“We urge the general to step up police patrols around vaccination sites,” Krutul said. The point is, he added, so that “the anti-vaccine movement does not feel unpunished.”

The president of the Polish People’s Party, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, also referred to the setting fire to the vaccination point in Zamość. As he stated, this attack “cannot get away with the bandits”. He appealed to severely punish the perpetrators and guarantee the safety of medics who, by vaccinating, save the health and life of Poles.

“It’s the government’s responsibility. Gentlemen, wake up! No more messing around with criminals!” – he wrote on Twitter.

Deputy Speaker of the Senate, Michał Kamiński (Polish Coalition), stated that “if the Polish government showed 10 percent of this commitment to defend the Polish health service against anti-vaccine madmen, which it showed in attacking Polish women defending their rights, we would live in a better country.” As he emphasized, “anti-vaccines are physically attacking the health service.”

Deputy PiS spokesman Radosław Fogiel asked on Monday at a press conference what consequences should be borne by those who attack vaccination points, replied that “as the court deems appropriate”.

– I believe that these consequences should be as serious, as severe as possible. We are dealing with a bandit act, an attempt to set fire to, or even setting fire to a vaccination point and I would expect, I think, this will not only be my expectation, but the reality of the actions of the police and the prosecutor’s office and then the judiciary, I would expect action with full determination and full severity – he said .

He was also asked whether the ranks of the Law and Justice party or the club will have consequences for those MPs who question vaccinations.

“Our attitude to vaccination is known,” Fogiel said. He added that Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki spoke about it at these “regrettable events”, “Minister Niedzielski spoke about it many times, fighting various fake news.”

– President Jarosław Kaczyński appealed to parliamentary clubs for deputies to join the promotion, to encourage vaccinations, because this is the only way to get out of this constant spiral of diseases and lockdowns – he added.

He argued that “the attitude of Law and Justice towards vaccination is unambiguously positive and has been known for a long time.”

Fogiel said that “the vast majority of the Law and Justice club are themselves setting a good example, are vaccinated, except for a few people who, I hear, are either convalescents and are waiting for the vaccinations window, or have medical contraindications determined by a doctor”. “If there are any other voices, they are absolutely marginal,” he added.