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Scuffles outside Poland’s constitutional court amid protest at abortion laws

28.01.2021 23:48
Police say they detained three people who broke into the grounds of Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal on Thursday evening during a protest against tightening the country’s abortion laws.
Protest in Warsaw on Thursday.
Protest in Warsaw on Thursday. Photo: PAP/Rafał Guz

Scuffles broke out as demonstrators tried to break through a cordon which police formed around them outside the court buildings in Warsaw, public broadcaster Polish Radio reported.

Flares were thrown into the court’s grounds and red paint was poured out in front of its entrance.

Polish Radio added that protests, held in defiance of a ban on large gatherings amid the COVID-19 pandemic, also took place in other cities, including Łódź in central Poland.

The demonstrations were sparked by a ruling from the Constitutional Tribunal, the country’s top court, restricting access to abortion.

The court's detailed verdict was published in an official gazette on Wednesday night, a step necessary for it to take effect.

In October, the court ruled that termination of pregnancies due to foetal defects should be banned, eliminating the most common of the few legal grounds for abortion in the predominantly Catholic country.

Under the new rules, abortions will only be permitted in cases of rape and incest, and when the mother's life or health is endangered.

Thursday’s demonstrations marked a spike in protests which have seen tens of thousands of women, liberals and anti-government demonstrators taking to the streets around Poland since October.

(pk/gs)

Source: PAP/IAR/Polish Radio