Tens of thousands of people marched through Minsk yesterday chanting “go away” on the sixth straight weekend of protests against President Alexander Lukashenko, keeping up the pressure on the veteran Belarusian leader to quit.

In tandem with the protests, anonymous hackers leaked the personal data of 1,000 police officers in retaliation for a crackdown in which thousands of people have been detained, many complaining of beatings and torture while in jail.

“As the arrests continue, we will continue to publish data on a massive scale,” said a statement distributed by the opposition news channel Nexta Live on the messaging app Telegram. “No one will remain anonymous even under a balaclava.”

Source: Radio Poland

Coronavirus vaccine expected next spring

Poland’s health minister recently commented that a vaccine against the coronavirus is likely to be available next spring, and will “definitively end the pandemic.”

In a later post on Twitter, Health Minister Adam Niedzielski reminded residents that “both distance and masks are important in limiting the transmission of coronavirus,” linking to a recent study in the respected scientific journal “The Lancet” which supports such preventative measures. He went on to emphasize the results of the systematic Lancet review were “facts, not insinuations.”

Meanwhile, Polish experts announced on Friday that they have developed a “prototype” of a home-grown vaccine against the coronavirus. According to state broadcaster TVP, the project is the work of a medical biology centre at the Poznań University of Medical Sciences in western Poland.

With 59 COVID-19 deaths per million population, Poland remains far less affected by the coronavirus epidemic than many other countries in Europe, including Germany (113), Sweden (573), and the UK (626) but still higher than neighboring Czech Republic (46) and Lithuania (31).

Source: Radio Poland, Statista

Football a hit-or-miss proposition during pandemic

German minor-league team SG Ripdorf/Molzen II made headlines last week after losing 37-0 during a “socially-distanced” match against their opponents earlier this month.

The opposing team (SV Holdenstedt II) had recently faced off against a team whose player later tested positive for coronavirus, leading Ripdorf team members to question if the match was safe. Rather than pay a €200 fine for forfeiting, players from Ripdorf passed the ball to Holdenstedt shortly after the game kicked off, and then walked to the sidelines for the rest of the match, resulting in a record-breaking win for their opponents.

In more positive football news, Polish star striker Robert Lewandowski had a great start to the Bundesliga season after his goal and two assists helped propel Bayern Munich to a record 8-0 win over their opponent last Friday.

Lewandowski ended the previous season as the division’s top scorer, with a near-record 34 goals. He has also been prolific as captain of the Polish national team, which is scheduled to play against Italy in the Nations League on October 11 at Ergo Arena in Gdańsk.

Source: SkyNews, Radio Poland

Gdańsk unveils new viewing point in Siedlce

Over the weekend, the city of Gdańsk unveiled a new viewing point in Siedlce named in honor of renowned Gdańsk photojournalist Maciej Kosycarz, who passed away last March after a long struggle with cancer.

The unveiling of the panorama was both joyful and nostalgic, as comments by the Deputy Mayor of Gdańsk, Piotr Grzelak, made clear. Kosycarz passed away during the coronavirus lockdown and residents “could not say goodbye to him together… to some extent, this ceremony replaces the moment when we were unable…. to say goodbye to him at the cemetery,” Grzelak explained. “Now we are in a place where we can look at Gdańsk and see its beauty, just like Maciej did.”

Visitors to the viewing platform in Winna Góra in Siedlce can see parts of the Old Town and the city center, as well as the industrial district of Przeróbka in the distance. Two more viewing points in the “Spojrzenie na Gdańsk” or “Gaze upon Gdańsk” project are scheduled to be opened in Gdańsk this year — one in Wrzeszcz and the other in Święty Wojciech.

Source: Radio Gdańsk

Weather

Today will once again be mostly sunny and warm, with a light breeze coming in from the southwest, and a very little chance of rain. Temperatures will be slightly warmer than yesterday with a high of 22°C, or 71°F, and an overnight low of 9°C or 49°F. The good weather is set to continue through tomorrow, with sunny skies and warm weather lasting until later in the week.

RGEN/pb