Farmers protested across Poland on Wednesday, demanding government action on the import of agricultural produce from Ukraine, as well as the withdrawal of the Green Deal. There were clashes with police in front of the Sejm in Warsaw. 

“All incidents are being recorded and will be analysed, and consequences will be drawn if any violations of the law are found”, stresses the capital’s police. 

The shoving and clashes between police officers and protesters occurred after 2 p.m. The farmers threw firecrackers at the police, as well as paving stones. Officers used gas and bang grenades. Sejm Speaker Szymon Holownia assessed on Wednesday that disgraceful incidents took place during the protests in front of the Sejm. 

“I don’t believe it was done by the farmers who actually came here to protest, but the group of protesting farmers was joined by provocateurs, masked individuals”, he stressed.

Holownia said that the police officers who “defended our safety today deserve our support”.  “And the hooligans, not any protesting farmers, just ordinary hooligans, who threw paving stones today, behaved in an outrageous manner, should be held accountable”, he assessed.

Fourteen officers were taken to hospitals as a result of the events at Wiejska Street. Fifty-two people were detained. “Some of the protesters tried to get through the barriers securing the area of the Sejm. They were prevented from doing so”, the police reported on Twitter.

Earlier, the police reported that the use of direct coercive measures was necessary due to the physical aggression of some of the protesters against officers at Wiejska Street. “It should be emphasised that these persons had previously been called upon to behave lawfully”, wrote the capital’s police officers.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński