Polish prosecutors have charged a man suspected of throwing a flare that set fire to an apartment during the Independence Day rally last week in Warsaw.
According to police, the suspect, who faces up to eight years in jail if convicted, was detained as he was preparing to head abroad. The man has denied the accusations against him.
More than 30 police officers were injured in clashes when marchers took to the streets of the capital on November 11 in defiance of pandemic restrictions. Some 300 demonstrators were detained, according to state news agency PAP.
Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski had previously banned the annual march due to the ongoing pandemic; Prime Minister Morawiecki had also appealed to organizers to refrain from holding this year’s march.
A senior adviser to Polish President Andrzej Duda characterized this year’s Independence Day rally as presenting “a very sad picture.”
Source: Radio Poland
COVID rates in Poland remain high
Government officials are urging residents to remain diligent about wearing masks and observing social distancing as COVID infection rates continue to remain high across Poland.
The Polish Health Ministry reported a slight drop in coronavirus rates yesterday to 21,854 new infections and 303 deaths, down slightly from the 25,571 infections and record 548 deaths reported on Saturday.
The hardest-hit regions continue to be the southern coal-mining regions of Silesia (Śląsk) and Dolnośląskie, which includes Wrocław, along with the western province of Wielkopolskie, home to the city of Poznań. Pomerania ranks in the middle of Polish provinces, with 1046 new infections reported on Sunday and 15 additional deaths.
Source: WSSE, Radio Poland
Tokarczuk releases new book
A new book by Polish Nobel prize-winning author Olga Tokarczuk, entitled “the Tender Narrator,” hit bookstores last week.
In addition to her Nobel lecture, which lent the title to the collection, the book includes six other lectures and essays on similar themes. During the lecture last December, Tokarczuk lamented the feeling that “there is something wrong with the world. This feeling, once reserved only for neurotic poets, today becomes an epidemic of indeterminacy, oozing anxiety from everywhere.”
Many commentators have pointed out that her words now seem prophetic. Writing in the introduction, Tokarczuk claims that she “owe[s] this book to the pandemic. It was during lockdown that I felt the need to organize my early writing, not only from the last year but also from earlier.”
Tokarczuk joined an elite list of previous Polish Nobel Prize winners which includes literary heavyweights like Henryk Sienkiewicz (1905), Czesław Miłosz (1980) and Wisława Szymborska (1996).
Tokarczuk’s work has won international praise from critics and has also proved popular with the reading public.
Source: Radio Poland
Voting begins for Civic Budget in Gdańsk
Starting today, residents of Gdańsk, including temporary residents and children, will have a chance to vote on which city projects they would like to fund as part of the 2021 Budżet Obywatelski, or Civic Budget.
With over 350 projects in Gdańsk to choose from, residents have a plethora of options, ranging from projects in health, sport, and recreation, to education, safety, and road improvements. Nearly PLN 15 million (14,824,301) is earmarked for projects in specific districts, with over PLN 3.5 million (3,603,700) available for projects city-wide.
Included in the sums are projects proposed under the new Green Civic Budget. Nearly PLN 4 million of the overall budget will be spent on investments related to green infrastructure, and residents will be given two additional points for voting on these projects.
Residents of any age are eligible to vote, including foreign nationals residing in Gdańsk, as long as they have a PESEL number and proof of residency (zameldowanie).
Voting is available online at https://gdansk.zetwibo.pl/voting/welcome and will be open until the end of November.
Source: Radio Gdańsk
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