Tusk demands a debate with Kaczyński. Legia players arrested in the Netherlands. In turn, the commander of NATO peacekeeping forces announces sending more troops to Kosovo. Here are six things you need to know today.
1. Poles storm offices
In Łódź alone, 15,000 people have added to the voter lists online in recent days. Over 5,000 people came to the office in person. To shorten the queues, an additional point for submitting applications was created at the office. – Regarding the previous one elections, then we can talk about twice as much voter interest. Compared to the elections in 2015, there is even three times more interest – points out Grzegorz Szatiło, director of the Civil Affairs Department of the City Hall in Łódź.
We can now talk about a popular movement. – You have to vote. You need to know what you are voting for and who you are voting for. We need to change what is happening now, says Mrs. Paulina, a resident of Łódź. – Everyone imagines that if they don’t go because their vote won’t count, it will be fine for them, they will sleep on it, and they have to vote – says Mr. Paweł, also a resident of Łódź.
READ ALSO: Poles storm offices. They collect voting rights certificates en masse
2. Legia players arrested in the Netherlands
After losing the match 0-1, Legia players who wanted to leave the facility, along with the club’s authorities, were blocked by security and the police. They were prevented from getting to the bus and leaving the stadium. After some time, there were fights. Many videos appeared on social media showing that the Dutch police used violence against president Dariusz Mioduski, Legia players and employees without justification. The brawl ended with the arrest of two players from the capital – Josue and Radovan Pankov.
“The players were arrested and are suspected of assault. The main building was closed and the Legia players’ bus could not leave the parking lot because the process of Legia fans leaving the stands was in full swing. Therefore, the players were kept at the stadium. Also for their own safety. Many players and activists apparently did not agree with this and used violence,” we read in Legia’s statement.
Scandal after the match between AZ Alkmaar and Legia. Mioduski talks about a “precedent on a global scale”Michel van Bergen/PAP/EPA
On Friday evening, the club announced that players Josue and Radovan Pankov had been released from custody and were returning to the country.
3. Polska Press refuses to publish opposition advertisements
“Echo Kieleckie”, “Nasze Miasto Gorzów” and the echodnia.eu portal – belonging to the Polska Press media group – refused to allow three candidates of the New Left and Third Way to publish election advertisements. Reason? As the publisher pointed out, the values presented by politicians of these groups “are incompatible with its program line.”
– This is scandalous preventive censorship – says the candidate of the Senate Pact from Kielce, Henryk Milcarz. In a statement sent to tvn24.pl, Polska Press writes in response to the “false claims of the disappointed candidate.”
4. Intervention of the school board in connection with the school primaries
Turnout 72 percent, first three places for opposition parties, PIS far behind – these are the results of the primaries organized at the Secondary School No. 2. Maria Skłodowska-Curie in Gorzów Wielkopolski.
Although the initiative has a 20-year tradition, this year the education board did not like it, and the day after the results it reminded in a statement about the “ban on electioneering in schools against students.”
5. Tusk demands a debate with Kaczyński
Donald Tusk said at the meeting in Przemyśl that Jaroslaw Kaczynski “he abdicated, is hiding and we are actually witnessing a change of leadership in PiS, because that’s what it looks like.” The leader of the Civic Platform referred to the fact that the president of the ruling party did not intend to take part in Monday’s debate on government television.
– I want to shout: Jarek, where are you, where are you hiding? – he said.
Donald Tusk in RzeszówPAP/Darek Delmanowicz
Tusk also referred, among other things, to the visa scandal, the medical conscience clause and the role Przemyśl played in helping refugees after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
READ ALSO: Tusk demands a debate with Kaczyński
– To get to the debate, you have to be smart, understand the questions, formulate brilliant answers, make speeches that reach seven million people listening, you have to not be afraid of people, be sure of your reasons – said one of the leaders of the Left on Friday in Radom. Włodzimierz Czarzasty
6. KFOR will send more NATO troops to Kosovo
More NATO troops will soon arrive in Kosovo – from Romania and other allied countries. A larger number of Alliance troops in the country is necessary for the mission to fulfill its mandate, said the commander of NATO peacekeeping forces in Kosovo, General Angelo Michele Ristuccia. He added that “only a political solution can ensure peace in the region.”
Ristuccia assessed that Kosovo is currently calmer than in previous days, but noted that destabilization could quickly occur if both sides “do not come to the negotiating table to try to find a political solution.”
Main photo source: Michel van Bergen/PAP/EPA