President Andrzej Duda issued a special message to the nation as commemorative events were held across the nation, state news agency PAP reported.
“Solidarity won because it was the collective creation of our nation,” Duda wrote, referring to events more than four decades ago.
August 31 marks 42 years since the so-called August Agreements between Poland’s then communist government and striking workers in 1980 paved the way for the creation of the independent Solidarity trade union.
Exactly two years later, on August 31, 1982, with Poland under government-imposed martial law, Solidarity held rallies across the country to mark the anniversary of the August Agreements.
The communist authorities cracked down violently on the demonstrations, killing three people in the southwestern town of Lubin, with casualties also reported in the northern port city of Gdańsk, the southeastern city of Kielce and Wrocław in the southwest.
‘Solidarity is the source of our inner strength’
“40 years after those tragic events and 42 years since the August Agreements, as the citizens of a sovereign and democratic Poland, we pay tribute to the heroes of those days,” the president wrote in his message.
“We are thankful for their integrity, dedication and tenacity, for their willingness to fight for the most precious values of freedom, truth and justice," he added.
Noting that the "freedom fighters of the 1980s" were prepared “to risk even their lives” in the name of these values, Duda stressed: “Solidarity is the source of our inner strength, thanks to which - as many times in the past - we will overcome every difficulty and realise every collective aim.”
42 years ago, Poles 'demanded their right to live in democracy’: PM
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki marked Freedom and Solidarity Day with a Facebook post in which he said that, on August 31, 1982, the people of Poland came out in support of the Solidarity movement and “demanded their right to live in a democracy.”
He paid special tribute to those who lost their lives during the August 1982 demonstrations as the communist police "were shooting to kill."
“Today I bow my head before all the victims of communist crimes in Poland, before all the victims of villainy and manipulation,” Morawiecki said.
'Polish gene of solidarity'
The US ambassador to Poland, Mark Brzezinski, tweeted in Polish: “More than 30 years ago the Polish gene of solidarity united the nation in the struggle against the authoritarian government, while today it is opening up the homes and hearts of Poles to their neighbours from Ukraine. The world is looking at you with admiration. Thank you for your solidarity!”
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, prezydent.pl