The demonstration on the Polish capital's Castle Square began after 2 p.m. and lasted about two-and-a-half hours.
State news agency PAP estimated attendance at roughly 10,000–15,000 people; at the official start shortly after 2 p.m., it put the crowd at about 6,000.
City police said the gathering was peaceful and ended without incidents.
Kaczyński used his speech to attack the government’s migration policy and broader record, urging supporters to “dismiss the government” and rebuild “everything that the government has managed to destroy.”
He accused the authorities of participating in “a great operation to defame Poles worldwide,” said public finances were in collapse, and warned of a “very serious crisis” potentially leading to the “annihilation of Poland’s sovereignty."
He also argued that his party's flagship investment and defense projects, including a planned mega-airport, part of the broader Central Transportation Hub project, and a planned nuclear plant with South Korea, had been halted, delayed or scaled back.
Responding to Tusk’s social media post hours earlier—pledging no migrant relocations, a tighter Belarus border and stricter visa and asylum rules—Kaczyński told the crowd not to “be fooled,” calling such statements “old games backed by the European Union."
He added that peace required strength and alliances, touched on his party's long-standing World War II reparations claims against Germany, and criticized what he called the deteriorating state of healthcare and education.
PiS figures Beata Szydło, Mariusz Błaszczak, Mateusz Morawiecki and Przemysław Czarnek also spoke, alongside nationalist activist Robert Bąkiewicz.
Party spokesman Rafał Bochenek emceed; PiS lawmakers, members of the Border Defense Movement group and presidential aides Zbigniew Bogucki and Paweł Szefernaker attended.
Szydło said Tusk had “ruined Poland” in two years and warned against trusting promises that the EU’s migration pact would not apply to the country, comparing it to assurances given by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel during Europe’s migration crisis.
Błaszczak urged supporters to “be together, fight for the homeland” and claimed the finance ministry had initially blocked the purchase of missiles for Poland’s F-35s before "pressure reversed the decision."
He claimed there was "no money" for missiles for a South Korean system procured under the PiS government.
Morawiecki said a widening budget gap and rising public debt were lengthening waits for medical specialists, weakening hospital equipment procurement and pushing major tenders abroad.
He pledged a PiS plan built on stopping illegal immigration, rejecting the Mercosur deal to aid farmers, and reviving large development projects.
He also vowed “economic nationalism,” saying that Polish firms and workers should benefit from public tenders.
Czarnek called on lawmakers in the ruling coalition to “wake up” and “defend Poland,” saying some did not want to “serve evil” or “anti-Polish stupidity.”
Bąkiewicz, flanked by supporters holding paper war scythes, in reference to historic uprisings, said Poles were defending their borders and families from “mass migration.”
During the event, PiS collected signatures for a citizens’ initiative seeking a referendum to reject the EU migration pact.
Shortly after the rally, Tusk dismissed it online as a flop--“the failure of Kaczyński’s ‘great march’,”--quipping that the PiS leader was better at “bringing in migrants than demonstrators.”
Ruling Civic Coalition (KO) MP Mariusz Witczak told the PAP news agency that the turnout was “poor” and that Kaczyński offered “nothing constructive,” only familiar themes—Germany, migrants, Mercosur and calls for Tusk’s immediate departure.
Witczak argued the government had excluded Poland from relocation obligations and opposed the Mercosur deal.
(jh/gs)
Source: PAP, TVP Info