The commemorations marked 52 years since Poland’s former communist rulers in December 1970 ordered the army and police to open fire on protesting workers on the country’s Baltic coast, killing 44.
Government officials and local leaders have attended ceremonies to light candles and pay respects in front of memorials in the northern port cities of Gdynia and Gdańsk.
A commemorative event in the northern port city of Gdynia on Saturday. Photo: PAP/Adam Warżawa
A remembrance ceremony in the Baltic city of Gdańsk. Photo: PAP/Adam Warżawa
Polish President Andrzej Duda wrote in a letter to those attending the tribute in Gdynia at the weekend that the events of December 1970 marked one of the most tragic chapters in the history of communist Poland.
"I pay tribute to the victims of the brutal crackdown on workers' protests by the communist security service," he said.
He added that dozens of people were killed and more than 1,000 injured at the time, while "thousands were detained, beaten, fired from work and harassed in other ways."
"They are all heroes of a free Poland because thanks to their courage, determination and dedication we live in a sovereign state today," Duda wrote in his message.
In December 1970, drastic price rises led to massive, more than weeklong protests in Gdynia as well as Gdańsk and Szczecin in northern Poland, triggering one of the most brutal crackdowns of the communist era.
Forty-four people were killed and more than 1,100 injured after police and soldiers opened fire on protesters, who also demanded a change of government and freedom of speech.
December 17, 1970, so-called "Black Thursday," marked the worst day of the crackdown.
Solidarity, the first independent trade union in a Warsaw Pact country, was born in August 1980 at a Gdańsk shipyard.
It played a key role in bringing about the collapse of communist rule in Poland in 1989.
(gs)
Source: PAP