Poland drops controversial proposals after protests
WARSAW: Polish President Andrzej Duda on Monday announced that the governing conservatives have scrapped controversial proposals to restrict media access in parliament that had set off an opposition outcry and street demonstrations.
But while the governing Law and Justice party ( PiS) appeared to offer compromise on the media rules, a row over a budget vote deemed ‘illegal' by the opposition intensified. The PiS “has abandoned its (media) proposal which triggered the row we saw in parliament... Everything has been reset,” Duda said in an interview on Poland's TVP public broadcaster. Senate speaker Stanislaw Karczewski, a PiS member, earlier assured journalists that the old media rules would remain in place for the time being. He said he would present new proposals by January 6. Duda called on opposition lawmakers, who have been occupying parliament since Friday, to “offer a goodwill gesture” and cease their protest.
“I'm calling for just a little reflection and calm, because this is an important domestic issue. Plus the holiday season is upon us and Poles are concerned by the situation. I want the problem resolved,” he said.
Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets since Friday in Warsaw and other parts of the country in the latest action against PiS moves deemed antidemocratic by its opponents.
Dozens of opposition MPs seized parliament's main chamber and protesters blocked the exits to the building on Friday in a show of anger. Thousands of people – grouped in a popular movement called the Committee for the Defence of Democracy – rallied outside parliament in support of the opposition MPs until late Sunday. — AFP