Smolensk cross ‘defender’. Below: J. Kaczynski lays wreath. photos: PAPPhoto - PAPFive months to the day since the Smolensk plane crash, representatives of Law and Justice (PiS) including party chairman Jaroslaw Kaczynski laid a wreath this morning at the memorial cross in front of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw - but not before they became entangled in a row with President Komorowski’s office about access to his residence.
The wreath laying became a source of conflict between the opposition Law and Justice party and President Komorowski’s office after they were initially refused permission to enter the Presidential Palace grounds.
And conflict over the Smolensk cross could continue today as pilgrims in support of keeping the cross where it is – and not being moved to a nearby church as President Komorowski and Roman Church establishment figures have requested – are descending on central Warsaw and will gather outside the president’s residence later this evening.
Secular opponents of the cross being outside the Presidential Palace will be there waiting for them in a counter protest.
At 08.00 CET this morning, Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski participating in a mass in honour of his dead brother and the 95 other victims of the April 10 Smolensk air disaster in the Visitationist Church (Kościół Opieki św. Józefa) in Warsaw.
Later, over a hundred people gathered in front of the Presidential Palace, sang the national anthem and chanted “Here is Poland!” and “Jarek, Jarek!” as a delegation of Law and Justice MPs, including Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s trusted allies - Antoni Macierewicz, Marek Kuchciński, Mariusz Blaszczak, Joachim Brudziński and Karol Karski - laid flowers at the foot of the cross and then went on to lay a wreath at the historic Powazki cemetery, where some of the crash victims are buried.
Initially, the President Office did not want to let the Law and Justice delegation approach the cross, which is surrounded by metal barriers, and suggested that they lay a wreath instead in the chapel inside the palace, where a plaque commemorating the Smolensk victims is located.
After some heated exchanges, Jaroslaw Kaczynski was allowed into the grounds to lay his wreath in honour of his twin brother and wife Maria.
Law and Justice politicians lay flowers at the cross each month. Civic Platform and the Democratic Left Alliance members, who also lost colleagues in the air disaster in western Russia, in the crash, do not accompany them as they think that flowers should be laid and candles lit at graves, not in front of the Presidential Palace.
Cross pilgrimage
Tonight, pilgrimages from several cities, including the eastern city of Bialystok, northern cities of Gdansk and Szczecin and western city of Wroclaw, are going to arrive at the Smolensk cross to commemorate the Smolensk victims. “We expect up to 4-5,000 people,” says Dariusz Wernicki from the Committee for the Defence of the Cross. The self-appointed Defenders of the cross said that they will try to get to the cross and will use force if necessary.
Later on Friday, a commemorative plaque is to be unveiled during a special ceremony at the Royal Wawel Cathedral in Krakow, where President Lech Kaczynski and the First Lady Maria Kaczynska have been put to rest. Families of the 96 victims whose names are placed on the plaque have been invited to attend the Church hosted event.
Meanwhile, numerous pilgrimages from all over Poland are converging on Warsaw to unite for a rally in front of the Presidential Palace this evening. They want to pay respect to the victims of the Smolensk air catastrophe which claimed the lives of all people on board the presidential plane on April 10. (pg/ss/mg)
Source: IAR, PAP
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