During commemorations in Radom, south of Warsaw, one of the towns where protests erupted in June 1976, a group of former anti-communist oppositionists were presented with state awards conferred by President Andrzej Duda.
The Polish Prime Minister's Office said: "46 years ago, the communist authorities of Poland announced a radical increase in food prices. It triggered massive demonstrations which were brutally quelled by police. It led to the emergence of the Workers’ Defence Committee, the first openly oppositional organization."
The demonstrations in 1976 were sparked by government increases in food prices. A strike of about 70,000 people in around 90 factories across Poland followed.
Protests also took place in the Warsaw district of Ursus and in Płock, north-west of the capital, leading to clashes with riot police.
Many of the demonstrators were arrested and suffered repression, including losing their jobs, at the hands of the communist authorities.
Nevertheless, the protests paved the way to the birth of the Solidarity pro-democracy movement several years later.
(gs)
Source: PAP