Lepper defends illegal market traders against shutdown by authorities

Leader of the radical agrarian Samoobrona Party and deputy speaker of the Sejm, Andrzej Lepper, refused to allow yesterday morning the liquidation of an illegal market in the center of Wloclawek in the north of Poland. Gazeta Wyborcza quotes Lepper as asking the bailiff, who was supposed to execute a legal court order to shut down the market, whether he "wanted trouble". The bailiff did not fulfill his duties. Lepper had been asked by the local Samoobrona supporters to help several dozens of illegal clothes and flowers traders to continue their trade. Asked to comment, Marek Borowski, the Sejm speaker, said that Lepper's behavior was not good for the image of the Sejm. The liquidation of the market had been planned five years ago. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A1; Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 5; Zycie, pp. 1, 3) P.J.