Grief greets Polish president's coffin as a nation counts costs
Source: Agencies |
April 12, 2010, Monday
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THE coffin of President Lech Kaczynski was returned to Poland yesterday, where it was greeted by grieving dignitaries and thousands of Poles lining the route from Warsaw's airport to the presidential palace.
The plane carrying Kaczynski's body arrived from the airport in Smolensk, Russia, where he and 95 others were heading on Saturday to honor 22,000 Polish officers slain by secret police in 1940 in the western Soviet Union.
Kaczynski's twin brother, Jaroslaw, knelt on the ground and pressed his head against the flag-draped coffin before rising and crossing himself.
The coffin was escorted by 10 soldiers from the back of the plane as somber music played. Warsaw Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz was among seven clerics and military chaplains who led prayers at the airport and sprinkled holy water on the coffin.
There was no sign of the twins' ailing mother Jadwiga, who has been hospitalized. The president had canceled several foreign trips lately to be by her side.
Also on the tarmac were Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Marta Kaczynska, the only child of the president and his wife, Maria, who also perished in the crash.
Thousands of people stood silent in the streets to mourn Kaczynski, 60, and the dozens of political, military and religious leaders killed in the plane crash that ravaged the top levels of Poland's elite.
Church bells pealed at noon and emergency sirens shrieked for nearly a minute before fading into silence. Hundreds bowed their heads, eyes closed, in front of the presidential palace. Buses and trams halted in the streets.
Among the dead were Poland's army chief of staff, the navy chief commander, and heads of the air and land forces. At the Field Cathedral of the Polish Army in Warsaw, hundreds gathered for a morning Mass and left flowers and written condolences.
Government spokesman Pawel Gras said the country's armed forces and state offices were operating normally despite the losses.
No date has yet been set for the funeral of the president and first lady.
Acting President Bronislaw Komorowski said he would call elections within 14 days. Under law the vote must be held within another 60 days.
Kaczynski had indicated he would seek a second term in presidential elections this fall but was expected to face an uphill struggle against Komorowski and his governing party, the moderate, pro-business Civic Platform.
Kaczynski's nationalist conservative Law and Justice Party could benefit, however, from the support of a country mourning the loss of their president, particularly with elections now set to take place by late June.
In Moscow, Russia's Transport Ministry said that Russian and Polish investigators had begun to decipher flight data recorders of the aging Soviet-built Tu-154 jet that crashed while trying to land in deep fog in Smolensk.
Russian officials had said 97 people were killed but revised the figure to 96.
Poland's Foreign Ministry later confirmed the death toll at 96.
The Smolensk regional government said Russian dispatchers had asked the Polish crew to divert from the military airport there because of the fog and land instead in Moscow or Minsk, the capital of neighboring Belarus.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski flew to Smolensk on Saturday night and identified the body of his brother and sister-in-law.
In Warsaw's historic center, large sections of the street were blocked to traffic to allow the flow of people expressing their grief.
Mourners carried candles and roses and joined a long line to sign a book of condolences in the palace.
Also aboard the plane were the national bank president, the deputy foreign minister, the army chaplain, the head of the National Security Office, the deputy parliament speaker, the Olympic Committee head, the civil rights commissioner and at least two presidential aides and three lawmakers.
Some on board were relatives of the Polish officers slain in the Katyn killings.
Among the victims was Anna Walentynowicz, whose firing in August 1980 from the Lenin Shipyards in Gdansk sparked a workers' strike that spurred the eventual creation of the so-called Solidarity freedom movement.
The plane carrying Kaczynski's body arrived from the airport in Smolensk, Russia, where he and 95 others were heading on Saturday to honor 22,000 Polish officers slain by secret police in 1940 in the western Soviet Union.
Kaczynski's twin brother, Jaroslaw, knelt on the ground and pressed his head against the flag-draped coffin before rising and crossing himself.
The coffin was escorted by 10 soldiers from the back of the plane as somber music played. Warsaw Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz was among seven clerics and military chaplains who led prayers at the airport and sprinkled holy water on the coffin.
There was no sign of the twins' ailing mother Jadwiga, who has been hospitalized. The president had canceled several foreign trips lately to be by her side.
Also on the tarmac were Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Marta Kaczynska, the only child of the president and his wife, Maria, who also perished in the crash.
Thousands of people stood silent in the streets to mourn Kaczynski, 60, and the dozens of political, military and religious leaders killed in the plane crash that ravaged the top levels of Poland's elite.
Church bells pealed at noon and emergency sirens shrieked for nearly a minute before fading into silence. Hundreds bowed their heads, eyes closed, in front of the presidential palace. Buses and trams halted in the streets.
Among the dead were Poland's army chief of staff, the navy chief commander, and heads of the air and land forces. At the Field Cathedral of the Polish Army in Warsaw, hundreds gathered for a morning Mass and left flowers and written condolences.
Government spokesman Pawel Gras said the country's armed forces and state offices were operating normally despite the losses.
No date has yet been set for the funeral of the president and first lady.
Acting President Bronislaw Komorowski said he would call elections within 14 days. Under law the vote must be held within another 60 days.
Kaczynski had indicated he would seek a second term in presidential elections this fall but was expected to face an uphill struggle against Komorowski and his governing party, the moderate, pro-business Civic Platform.
Kaczynski's nationalist conservative Law and Justice Party could benefit, however, from the support of a country mourning the loss of their president, particularly with elections now set to take place by late June.
In Moscow, Russia's Transport Ministry said that Russian and Polish investigators had begun to decipher flight data recorders of the aging Soviet-built Tu-154 jet that crashed while trying to land in deep fog in Smolensk.
Russian officials had said 97 people were killed but revised the figure to 96.
Poland's Foreign Ministry later confirmed the death toll at 96.
The Smolensk regional government said Russian dispatchers had asked the Polish crew to divert from the military airport there because of the fog and land instead in Moscow or Minsk, the capital of neighboring Belarus.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski flew to Smolensk on Saturday night and identified the body of his brother and sister-in-law.
In Warsaw's historic center, large sections of the street were blocked to traffic to allow the flow of people expressing their grief.
Mourners carried candles and roses and joined a long line to sign a book of condolences in the palace.
Also aboard the plane were the national bank president, the deputy foreign minister, the army chaplain, the head of the National Security Office, the deputy parliament speaker, the Olympic Committee head, the civil rights commissioner and at least two presidential aides and three lawmakers.
Some on board were relatives of the Polish officers slain in the Katyn killings.
Among the victims was Anna Walentynowicz, whose firing in August 1980 from the Lenin Shipyards in Gdansk sparked a workers' strike that spurred the eventual creation of the so-called Solidarity freedom movement.
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