3 arrested in connection to openly antisemitic rally

WARSAW — Poland’s Interior Minister said Monday three people have been arrested in connection with an antisemitic demonstration last week where far-right participants shouted “death to the Jews.”

The demonstration took place Thursday on Poland’s Independence Day in the central city of Kalisz. Participants at the gathering also burned a copy of a medieval document that offered Jews protection and rights in Polish lands.

“Poland is our homeland. We are both Jews and Poles. We are asking, however, why our right to regard Poland as our home is being questioned ever more often and ever more openly,” the Union of Jewish Religious Communities said.

Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski announced the arrest on Twitter, saying “there is no consent to anti-Semitism and hatred based on nationality, religion or ethnicity.”

Polish authorities have faced questions as to why it took so long to make the arrests given that the incident was widely reported in Poland.

The public expression of hatred occurred on a holiday celebrating Poland’s statehood, a day that in recent years has been overshadowed by events led by far-right groups.

The Jewish community statement noted that state and local governments have been “giving up their role as the main organizer of Independence Day celebrations, thus letting the initiative be taken over by extreme right-wing organizations that use public assemblies to preach antisemitic, xenophobic, and homophobic words.”

Polish President Andrzej Duda strongly condemned the incident on Sunday while people in the city of Kalisz held a demonstration under the slogan “Kalisz — free from fascism.”