Pilgrims will be descending on the controversial Smolensk cross situated outside the Presidential Palace in Warsaw next week.

The aim of the pilgrimages - say self-styled Defenders of the Cross - is to put pressure on the Chancellery of the President to erect a monument to the late president Lech Kaczynski and other Smolensk air disaster victims in front of the Presidential Palace.

The cross defenders say that they will not stop the pilgrimages until talks on the subject start.

“Members of several parishes which support the Cross Defenders will arrive outside the Presidential Palace next week,” says Wlodzimierz Kaczanow from the Social Committee for the Defence of the Cross.

The first pilgrimages will set off from the southern cities of Krosno, Tarnow and Nowy Sacz and the northern city of Olsztyn.

Everyday a different pilgrimage consisting of several dozen people will appear at the Smolensk cross.

“The biggest all-Poland pilgrimage will arrive at the cross on 10 September, five moths after the presidential plane’s crash near Smolensk,” says Dariusz Wernicki.

The pilgrims will gather at the cross wearing red-and-white ribbons and carrying candles.

The Cross Defenders also plan to ask the Pope for support. Members of the Social Committee for the Defence of the Cross are flying to Vatican today. (mg)