WARSAW - Tens of thousands of Polish nationalist sympathisers gathered in Warsaw on Wednesday for an annual Independence Day March, just days after a deadly shooting spree in Krakow that shook the country.
The event is held each November 11 to commemorate the ending in 1918 of 123 years of partition by Russia, Prussia and Austria.
The march began with the national anthem, which rang out as participants lit flares that blanketed the demonstration in thick smoke.
"There are surely over half a million Poles," Rafal Buca, a spokesperson for the event's organisers, told AFP when asked about the number of participants.
City authorities said as many as 250,000 people took part.
Conservative-nationalist president Karol Nawrocki -- who in the past has participated in the demonstration both in his current role and as a private citizen -- was among those marching.
The event is a magnet for all shades of Poland's right wing -- from conservative-nationalists aligned with its Law and Justice (PiS) party to far-right and radical groups.
Xenophobic slogans, including "Make Europe white again", could be seen on posters carried by demonstrators.
Others read "Poland is not for sale" or likened the country's pro-European Prime Minister Donald Tusk to a "dictator".
"This march is a protest against those who govern us," Jedrzej Kozak, a 28 year-old IT specialist from the northern city of Torun told AFP.
Justyna Plaszczyk, 42, came to the march to "show her solidarity with the Polish nation".
Asked about her opinion on her country's place in the EU, she told AFP: "It goes without saying we must leave the European Union because Poland should be a sovereign state."
Anti-Ukrainian slogans were also present, with nationalist and far-right circles opposing the "Ukrainisation of Poland".
Nevertheless, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in a post on X: "We are glad that Poland is European, strong, and free".
"We in Ukraine are grateful to Poland for its support – for Ukraine's independence, our state, our defence, our people, and our aspiration to be a European, strong, and free country too."
- High alert -
While generally peaceful, some past marches have been marred by clashes with police or counter-demonstrators.
But Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski assured Wednesday afternoon that "for the moment, we have not observed any serious troubles, apart from the use of smoke flares".
Warsaw was on high alert after deadly shootings in the second city of Krakow, which shocked the country of 38 million.
A 24-year-old man opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle in a packed market square on Saturday, killing six people and wounding 15 others before he was fatally wounded by police. The bodies of his parents and a sister were found at the family home.
On Tuesday, Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek said the killer had been interested in neo-Nazi Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway in 2011.
Wednesday's march also took place amid a political battle pitting Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist government against the nationalist right over the country's highest court -- the Constitutional Tribunal.
The court's legitimacy has been disputed for years because of controversial appointments made under previous right-wing governments.
The governing coalition says it wants to correct "political" reforms and appointments made by the far right, which it deems contrary to democratic standards.
But nationalists have accused Tusk of undermining constitutional order and right-wing protesters have been camping outside the tribunal for several weeks.
Last week, riot police moved onto the tribunal site to block access, and a judge appointed by the ruling majority announced she was assuming the court presidency role on an interim basis.
She suspended the sitting president, who is close to Nawrocki.
The authorities feared political tensions could spill over and that some demonstrators may try to storm the Constitutional Tribunal.
- AFP