Parties battle for hearts and minds during Warsaw protests

Followers of Law and Justice (PiS) gathered 10,000 demonstrators. Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński in his public address stressed that the most important thing is the defense of the current government. He said that the program of PiS is addressed to "all honest Poles, even to those who have a lot, provided that they got it in an honest way". He thanked everybody for coming to his march and he said he knows it is easier to mobilize people against something rather that in favor of something. He also referred to Civic Platform (PO) and said that the liberal alternative will damage and not help the society. PO's demonstration gathered 11,000. Party leader Donald Tusk said that he wants to rule in order to help people and not to wage political battles. The League of Polish Families (LPR) demonstration was headed by its leader Roman Giertych who said that it is necessary to accelerate changes in the country and sought to convince his followers that they had the moral right to decide about those changes. All the demonstrations had one thing in common, the leaders tried to persuade the public that the nation was in that place where they spoke. (Rzeczposplita p. A4, A5) M.M.