Wałęsa's anniversary celebrations begin

The guests have started to arrive, among them Dalai Lama, who will among other past recipients of the Nobel Peace Price attend a ceremony in Gdańsk marking 25 years since Lech Wałęsa received the honor for leading Poland's Solidarity movement.

On Saturday, the past president will host a banquet whose guests will include Dalai Lama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and EC President José Manuel Barroso.

To mark the celebrations, Wałęsa devised an award, the Lech Wałęsa Prize, for charity and humanitarian work whose first recipient is to be Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah.

The goal of the €100,000 prize is to "reward those who work for understanding and cooperation among nations in the name of freedom and the values of Solidarity."

Meanwhile, 200 young people from 44 countries will also take part in the event. The international gathering, traveling under the motto of 'Solidarity Express' arrived in Gdańsk on Friday morning. They will visit the Westerplatte monument site commemorating the start of WWII, tour the Gdańsk shipyards and participate in a conference, "Solidarity for the Future."

Sources: TVN24, AFP