Liquidation of the Stadium, the battle for KDT, now the fire at Marywilska Street. The difficult fate of merchants from Warsaw
In the morning, a fire broke out in the shopping center at Marywilska 44. There were over 1,400 commercial premises there, so several thousand people lost their jobs, because these were often family stores. In 2009, traders were removed from the center of Warsaw. They did not want to voluntarily leave the hall located next to the Palace of Culture and Science, so they were forcibly removed by the police.
A great fire over Warsaw's Białołęka. On Sunday, May 12, the market halls at 44 Marywilska Street – a large clothing shopping center – caught fire. Poles, Vietnamese and Chinese traded there. Many of them previously sold at the Tenth Anniversary Stadium, and when it was closed, they moved to Kupieckie Domy Towarowe near the Palace of Culture and Science.
From the Palace of Culture and Science to Marywilska
The halls at Marszałkowska Street were built in 2001, and the then mayor of the city, Paweł Piskorski, announced that it was a temporary structure, an intermediate element in the process of civilizing trade near the Palace of Culture (where previously trade from camp beds and the so-called jaws dominated). However, temporary tenancies in Poland have the feature that they can last a long time, so in the following years the contracts of the tenants were extended. The fact is that the center was not aesthetically pleasing, but thanks to its location, many customers came to the stores.
In 2008, Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz decided that this type of facility could not exist in the center of a city with great aspirations and decided to demolish it. However, the tenants did not react calmly to this decision and defended their jobs. From January 1, 2009, they occupied it without a contract. The town hall handed the case over to the bailiff. The stalemate lasted for several months, until on the morning of July 21, 2009, the bailiff with the support of 250 security guards demanded that the merchants barricaded in the hall leave it. They refused and what was described in the Warsaw media as the “battle for the KDT” began.
“Battle for KDT”
The sellers were supported by hooligans and nationalists. There was a regular battle in and around the halls, including throwing stones and barricading the entrances. The city center was paralyzed, several dozen trams stopped. The police arrived at the scene and supported the security guards. She used tear gas. In response, protesters threw paving slabs, fire extinguishers and bottles. As a result, six people were taken to hospital.
However, they managed to empty the hall, which was demolished a few months later. Today, in its place stands the Museum of Modern Art, which has not yet been opened to the public.
The halls at Marywilska burned down on Sunday morning
The merchants were moved to the outskirts of Warsaw, to Marywilska Street. A few hours ago, it almost completely burned down. The officer on duty at the Warsaw fire brigade in a conversation with Onet before 5 a.m. confirmed that the matter was serious. – Merchant Department Stores are burning. The scale of the fire is huge, he said. This can be seen from the recordings widely posted on social media. High clouds of smoke could be seen even from distant parts of Warsaw.
Even before 6 a.m., 43 fire brigades were dispatched to extinguish the fire. The services assured that more firefighters were still arriving at the scene. The fire brigade has not yet announced the official cause of the fire. In an interview with Wirtualna Polska, Brig. Dr. Eng. Feltynowski admitted that we are dealing with a “very strange situation.” – It is a very strange situation that after several minutes such an area was already engulfed in fire – he said.
