Thousands of Polish farmers and right-wing activists held a demonstration in Warsaw on Friday against the agricultural policies of the European Union.
The demonstrators sounded horns and sirens and lit fireworks in support of demands to cut back EU environmental measures. A Warsaw municipal spokeswoman put the number at between 30,000 and 35,000, considerably less than the figure expected by the organizers.
The protesters held up placards reading: "Away with the Green Deal," and "Brussels can eat worms; we prefer schnitzel with potatoes." A petition was handed in to the EU offices in the Polish capital.
Branches of the Solidarność (Solidarity) trade union had called the protest, including the branch for small farmers.
Leading politicians of the opposition national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party joined the protest, including former prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki and party leader Jarosław Kaczyński.
"Away with the Green Deal" is our solution as well, Kaczyński said. He accused Brussels of attempting to thwart Polish development as it sought to catch up with its western neighbours.
Public broadcaster TVP showed archive film from 2021, when the PiS was in government. Kaczyński is shown praising the Green Deal as a "good plan" that could benefit countries like Poland.
The EU's Green Deal aims to make the bloc carbon-neutral by 2050 through reforms in energy generation, transport, industry and agriculture.
