Former president and founder of the Solidarity trade union, Lech Walesa has pulled out of the 30th anniversary celebrations in the north-western port of Szczecin, commemorating the signing of the August Agreements.

Earlier, the West Pomerania Provincial Marshall’s Office had informed that the former Solidarity leader would be coming to Szczecin for the 28 August, when the ceremony is billed to take place.

Piotr Gulczynski from the Walesa Institute had said that the Solidarity leader initially had plans to attend the 30th anniversary celebrations of the August Agreements, which paved the way for the legal acknowledgement of the independent Solidarity movement by the communist authorities.

30th anniversary ceremonies of the Solidarity movement are to take place in three towns linked to the August Agreements; Szczecin, Gdansk and Jastrzebie Zdroj. Now it is certain that Lech Walesa will not be attending any of them.

“We found out over a week ago that [Walesa] did not even receive an invitation to attend the ceremony in Jastrzebie,” Gulczynski informed the press, underlining that “in Gdansk there are some controversies surrounding who was invited and who wasn’t.”

The decision not to attend the ceremony in Szczecin “is a response to the whole issue of the anniversary celebrations,” and not solely a gesture aimed at the organisers of the Szczecin event, adds Gulczynski from the Walesa Institute.

Gulczynski said that a positive approach shown by the Szczecin organisers had been overshadowed by the remaining events, however, and as such Lech Walesa decided to withdraw from the anniversary celebrations completely.

The Szczecin anniversary ceremony of the August Agreements is to be attended by President Bronislaw Komorowski, as well as current head of the Soldarity trade union, Janusz Sniadek. (jb)

Source: PAP

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