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UPDATE: Poland celebrates Independence Day

11.11.2021 18:00
Poles on Thursday marked 103 years of independence with Polish officials taking part in country-wide celebrations.
The Palace on the Isle in Warsaws Łazienki Park illuminated in Polands national colours to celebrate the countrys independence.
The Palace on the Isle in Warsaw's Łazienki Park illuminated in Poland's national colours to celebrate the country's independence.Photo: PAP/Albert Zawada

Polish President Andrzej Duda and First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda took part in a Catholic Mass dedicated to Poland's regained independence and in a special changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw on Thursday morning.

During the event President Duda thanked Polish border guards for protecting the country's eastern frontier, amid "Belarusian regime's hybrid action against Poland and the European Union".

Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, as well as his cabinet ministers and MPs laid wreaths at monuments to Józef Piłsudski, Wincenty Witos, Roman Dmowski and Ignacy Paderewski, statesmen, leaders and fathers of Polish independence.

Warsaw hosted the annual Independence March with thousands of police and soldiers patrolling the streets.

Poland regained independence on November 11, 1918, the day World War I ended, after 123 years of partition by Russia, Austria and Prussia.

(tf)

Source: PAP