Artykuł pochodzi z pisma "New Warsaw Express"

Raining on the Parade

Gay and lesbian rights activists are up in arms after Warsaw Mayor Lech Kaczynski last week said he would turn down their request for a permit to hold a gay rights parade. Kaczynski cited the possibility of violence, the march's timing - one day after the Catholic holiday Corpus Christi - and route, which covers some of the same ground as the biggest Corpus Christi procession. A final decision from the mayor is expected by the end of the week.
The possibility of violence is a real one, considering the fate of a recent gay-rights march in Krakow, which was blocked by right-wing youth and football hooligans who later slugged it out with police on the city's main square.
Activists reply that it's unfair to hold them responsible for the actions of their opponents, and say it's the job of the police to maintain order. The parade has been held for the past three years without major conflict.
But this time, members of right-wing parties such as the League of Polish Familie (LPR), including several local and province officials, have sworn to hold a counterdemonstration to block the march.
The LPR, which also organised the counter-demonstration in Krakow, is a radical Catholic party; in fact, with their opposition to European Union membership on religious grounds, they're quite literally more Catholic than the Pope.
Another part of the problem is that the march had originally been scheduled for May 1, but had to be postponed due to the European Economic Forum. If the marchers are looking for a public holiday that is not a religious one, they'd have to wait until November 11.
The organisers want to march from the monument to victims of Soviet oppression during Second World War, down Krakowskie Przedmiescie and Nowy Swiat to the Sejm - next to the monument to the nationalist resistance during the war, the Home Army (AK).
That route passes by quite a few churches, and it begins and ends at places with a good deal of symbolic importance to Poland's right wing. Then again, it is also a pretty standard route for demonstrations, and the nearby symbols would preclude everyone but right-wing groups from demonstrating in front of Parliament.
In any case, the organisers say they're willing to negotiate with both the city and their opponents, as long as the march happens on June 11 and ends at the Sejm.
Their offers to negotiate with the LPR, at least, are likely to fall on deaf ears.
"We'll hold a counter-demonstration whether the parade is in the centre, or somewhere in (the suburban district of) Bialoleka," Gazeta Wyborcza quoted LPR politician Wojciech Wierzejski as saying.

ANDREW POWERS

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