Cathedral burial protest builds
Source: Agencies |
April 15, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
POLAND'S ruling party said yesterday that presidential elections were likely to be held on June 20 as protests grew over the choice of a burial site for late president Lech Kaczynski.
Some Poles reacted with fury to plans unveiled on Tuesday by a senior cardinal to bury the late president and his wife Maria at Wawel Cathedral in Krakow, a place normally reserved for national heroes, poets and kings.
The uproar exposed the first cracks in the display of national unity that has followed Kaczynski's death in a plane crash, days before world leaders, including United States President Barack Obama, are expected in Poland for the Sunday funeral.
A total of 96 people died in the crash near Smolensk in Russia on Saturday, including Polish military commanders, top opposition figures and the central bank governor.
Kaczynski and his entourage had been travelling to mark the 70th anniversary of the massacre of over 20,000 Polish officers by Soviet secret police in the Katyn forest.
Tens of thousands of mourners lined the streets of Warsaw to welcome his body home at the weekend and people have queued in the rain for hours to get a glimpse of the first couple's coffins at the presidential palace.
But the burial plans sparked a sharp reaction. Support for Kaczynski, a polarizing nationalist and eurosceptic, had dwindled to 20 percent before his death.
Leading Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza called the decision "hasty and emotional" in a front-page editorial. Andrzej Wajda, the influential, Oscar-winning Polish director of a film on the Katyn tragedy, wrote to the paper urging the decision be reversed.
Acting President Bronislaw Komorowski, the lower house speaker and the presidential candidate of Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist Civic Platform (PO), held talks yesterday with political parties to set a date for the presidential poll. They agreed to push back a final decision until next week. A leading PO official said the poll would most likely take place on June 20.
Under the rules of the Polish constitution, the election must be held within 60 days of the date of announcement and the slight delay gives right-wing Law and Justice, led by Kaczynski's twin brother Jaroslaw, and the main leftist SLD party extra time to find candidates. SLD's presidential candidate also died in the plane crash.
Some Poles reacted with fury to plans unveiled on Tuesday by a senior cardinal to bury the late president and his wife Maria at Wawel Cathedral in Krakow, a place normally reserved for national heroes, poets and kings.
The uproar exposed the first cracks in the display of national unity that has followed Kaczynski's death in a plane crash, days before world leaders, including United States President Barack Obama, are expected in Poland for the Sunday funeral.
A total of 96 people died in the crash near Smolensk in Russia on Saturday, including Polish military commanders, top opposition figures and the central bank governor.
Kaczynski and his entourage had been travelling to mark the 70th anniversary of the massacre of over 20,000 Polish officers by Soviet secret police in the Katyn forest.
Tens of thousands of mourners lined the streets of Warsaw to welcome his body home at the weekend and people have queued in the rain for hours to get a glimpse of the first couple's coffins at the presidential palace.
But the burial plans sparked a sharp reaction. Support for Kaczynski, a polarizing nationalist and eurosceptic, had dwindled to 20 percent before his death.
Leading Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza called the decision "hasty and emotional" in a front-page editorial. Andrzej Wajda, the influential, Oscar-winning Polish director of a film on the Katyn tragedy, wrote to the paper urging the decision be reversed.
Acting President Bronislaw Komorowski, the lower house speaker and the presidential candidate of Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist Civic Platform (PO), held talks yesterday with political parties to set a date for the presidential poll. They agreed to push back a final decision until next week. A leading PO official said the poll would most likely take place on June 20.
Under the rules of the Polish constitution, the election must be held within 60 days of the date of announcement and the slight delay gives right-wing Law and Justice, led by Kaczynski's twin brother Jaroslaw, and the main leftist SLD party extra time to find candidates. SLD's presidential candidate also died in the plane crash.
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