The Independence Day March set off from Dmowski Roundabout after the national anthem and headed toward the grounds by the National Stadium.
Crowds carried white-and-red flags, town banners and wore national-color rosettes, caps and scarves. A large front banner read: “One nation, strong Poland.”
Anti-government slogans appeared in the crowd, including “Poland demands today: send Tusk back to Berlin!”, alongside vulgar chants aimed at the prime minister.
The far-right nationalist group Młodzież Wszechpolska posted a video on X showing masked people burning an EU flag with the caption, “This is Poland, not Brussels.”
President Karol Nawrocki walked among participants rather than at the front. The march also drew conservative opposition party Law and Justice (PiS) politicians including party leader Jarosław Kaczyński, parliamentary caucus chief Mariusz Błaszczak, spokesman Rafał Bochenek and former prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Far-right Konfederacja leader and deputy Sejm speaker Krzysztof Bosak and nationalist Border Defense Movement leader Robert Bąkiewicz also took part.
By after 6 p.m., participants reached the stadium grounds, where a concert began and most people started to disperse, the director of the Warsaw Security Center said. The center’s staff continued operations into the evening to oversee the stadium gathering and a separate city-organized concert at the Citadel.
According to the center, this year’s march was among the calmest, with no incidents apart from the use of pyrotechnics despite a ban imposed by the Mazovian voivode.
(jh)
Source: PAP, Polskie Radio 24