A “legal and final” decision regarding the Independence March was made. There is a comment from the president
The decision to organize a cyclical meeting on November 11 was announced on the website of the Masovian Voivodeship Office in Warsaw. This is about the Independence March, an event initiated in 2011.
“The Masovian Voivode issued a decision refusing the organization of a cyclical meeting to celebrate the anniversary of Poland regaining independence due to the following comments,” it was reported. Reference was made here to Art. 26a section 1 of the Act of 24 July 2015, Law on Assemblies.
“Failure to meet the conditions”
In the context of the regulations, it is explained that “in order for an assembly to obtain the status of a cyclical assembly, it must be organized by the same organizer in the same place or on the same route at least four times a year, according to a prepared schedule, or at least once a year on state and national holidays, and such events took place over the last three years, even if not in the form of assemblies, and were intended in particular to celebrate significant and important events for the history of the Republic of Poland.
Meanwhile, the Independence March Association was not the organizer of the gathering on November 11, 2021. “This event was not held pursuant to the provisions of the Law on Assemblies, and was organized by a public authority, the Office for Veterans and Victims of Oppression in Warsaw,” we read.
Attention was drawn to the “failure to meet the conditions” specified in the regulations. Therefore, “the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of the Independence March Association in this case and upheld the decision of the Masovian Voivode. The decision of the Court of Appeal is final,” we read.
Malewski is already announcing another march
Therefore, “The Independence March Association does not have consent to organize the rally on November 11 on a regular basis in the years 2024-2026.” On January 31, the Masovian Voivode “refused to allow the Independence March Association to organize it periodically.” Finally, it was informed that the court’s decision was final and the voivode’s decision was final.
Bartosz Malewski, president of the management board of the MN Association, commented on the situation on the X platform. “Ultimately, the Court of Appeal overturned the decision of the District Court and upheld the voivode’s decision. The whole process, despite two wins along the way, was full of absurdities, and the SA’s justification was scandalous,” he said.
Malewski has already announced that the march will “pass through the streets of Warsaw” again in 2024. “The (Civic) Platform blocked patriots from the very beginning on November 11, and the Independence March went ahead anyway. So we will see each other in the capital as always,” he concluded. Malewski had in mind here, among others: the 2018 decision of the (then) mayor of Warsaw, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, which banned the organization of the event. Then the District Court in Warsaw overturned her decision
