Speaking at the premiere of a new film about the communist-era pacification known as ‘Black Thursday’, Prime Minister Donald Tusk declared that “justice has still not been completely fulfilled” as regards the crimes of December 1970.

Tusk made the statement at Warsaw’s Teatr Polski yesterday, where veteran director Antoni Krauze presented his new film, which is a hard-hitting reconstruction of the events of December 1970.

Over forty civilians died when soldiers and local militiamen clashed with protesters in Gdynia over sharp rises in the prices of basic foodstuffs. Besides the casualties, it is estimated that 1,000 people were injured in the debacle.

“Above all, I would like to pay tribute to those who perished, to those that gave their lives […] and to the families that endured the loss of their closest,” said the Prime Minister.

Tusk added that whilst those who had perpetrated the crime may not have been brought to justice, the victims “were the true victors,” citing the “fortuitous finale” of democracy in 1989.

The Prime Minister also noted the impression that the events had made on him as a young boy from neighbouring Gdansk, as well as on his future wife, who was from Gdynia.

“Everyone in the Tri-city always says that August was only possible because people remembered what had happened in December,” Tusk concluded, referring to the birth of Solidarity in Gdansk in August 1980.

“Without these [events] we would not live in a free Poland,” he added. Black Thursday [Czarny Czwartek] goes on general release on 25 February. (nh/jb)

Source: PAP