Protests against STOEN sale bring parliament to a halt for a second day

Opposition deputies paralyzed the parliament for a second day yesterday to protest against the $360 million sale of power utility STOEN to RWE Plus of Germany. Dozens of MPs from Self-Defense (Samoobrona) surrounded Treasury Minister Wieslaw Kaczmarek as he was explaining the sale, and commenced to occupy the podium of the lower house. Self-Defense's actions follow a 19-hour sit-in by Gabriel Janowski of the Polish Families League (LPR), which ended in the early hours of Thursday morning when he was carried feet-first out of the chamber by uniformed guards. The political storm in parliament ultimately forced the Sejm to adjourn until the day after local elections - to be held on October 27 - by which time emotions may well have cooled. "This definitely does not help decision-making and may delay the privatization process, but the coalition has a majority and should be able to carry out its program," said Sejm speaker Marek Borowski. About 20 minutes into Kaczmarek's speech, Self-Defense leader Andrzej Lepper approached the podium and, despite pleas by the speaker to back down, slowly took over the assembly. "We have gone too far. This sale must be annulled," shouted Lepper. LPR has filed for the dismissal of Borowski from the position of Sejm speaker. The motion has been backed by the Law and Justice (PiS) party, the Civic Platform (PO) and Self-Defense. (Reuters; Rzeczpospolita, p. A1) A.Z.