Kamil Siemaszko and Patryk Szynkowski spent the night in a police detention cell. They have been prohibited from approaching Mayor Jacek Jaśkowiak of the Civic Coalition (KO) within 20 meters and are also subject to a similar ban on approaching… City Hall itself. They face up to three years in prison.
For what? They have been charged with insulting and violating the bodily integrity of the Mayor, damaging his suit, shirt, and tie, as well as aiding the act by shouting slogans and shielding the Mayor with a banner. All because of a cake thrown at him. This is how Waldemar Żurek’s prosecutor’s office has treated representatives of the independent left, writes Piotr Lisiewicz for Niezalezna.pl.
Particularly absurd is the fact that both men have also been placed under police supervision, requiring them to report to a police station as many as three times a week. Such supervision is generally imposed on individuals suspected of serious crimes such as robbery, drug trafficking, or severe domestic violence. It appears that the authorities simply want to portray their opponents as criminals.
The so-called “militant democracy”—increasingly resembling an oppressive dictatorship under Donald Tusk’s government—does not target only PiS supporters but everyone who opposes the current authorities. This time it has turned against anarchists and members of the independent left who have been defending the rights of residents of the Malta Housing Estate.
An anarchist from the Rozbrat squat, Kamil Siemaszko, has been charged with a series of offenses, including insulting and violating the bodily integrity of the Mayor and damaging his suit, shirt, and tie. Even more bizarre charges were brought against Patryk Szynkowski, who accompanied him and presented Jaśkowiak with a symbolic “black mark.” The fact that he held a banner and chanted slogans was interpreted as distracting the Mayor and participants of the City Council session, thereby enabling Siemaszko to throw the cake.
Throwing cakes as a form of protest has appeared more than once in Polish politics. Former Finance Minister Leszek Balcerowicz, whom many on the left blamed for poverty and the collapse of Polish workplaces, was hit with a cake by left-wing activist Maciej Roszak. Likewise, Legia Warsaw president Leszek Miklas—who sought to replace the club’s traditional supporters with wealthier spectators more compliant with the club’s authorities—was hit with a cake by Legia fan Wojciech Braun, known as “Kelner” (“The Waiter”). Ultimately, the prosecutor’s office discontinued the case, and “Kelner” was even given back the cake tray, as it had ceased to be evidence in the proceedings.
“When those in power close their doors to people, a cake becomes one of the ways to break through to public opinion. We reach for a proven ‘comedic weapon,’ just as American activist Thomas King Forçade did in 1970 when he threw a pie in the face of the head of the government’s censorship commission. We use humor instead of violence. Our goal is to criticize Jaśkowiak’s heavy-handed rule, not to physically harm a person,” representatives of Rozbrat wrote after the incident.
However, since the advent of what is called “militant democracy” in Poland, the state has completely lost its sense of humor. The authors of the protest have been accused by Waldemar Żurek’s prosecutor’s office of committing numerous crimes.
One may ask how they are supposed to handle their personal affairs at City Hall if they are forbidden from approaching the building. Am I to understand that depriving citizens of such a right is now permissible under “militant democracy”?
The arguments put forward by Rozbrat did not help. They stated:
“Cream on a suit is harmless compared to the real, everyday, systemic violence of the Poznań authorities: depriving people of a roof over their heads, tolerating corruption and irregularities in municipal institutions, and shifting the costs of poor management onto ordinary people. The real violence is what happens behind the closed doors of City Hall.”
Twenty-two-year-old Patryk Szynkowski has now been subjected to repression once again. During the presidential campaign, when he attended a rally held by Rafał Trzaskowski to ask about the residents of the Malta Housing Estate, he was thrown to the ground.
As members of the anarchist collective wrote:
“In a democracy, criticism of those in power is not merely permitted—it is one of the foundations of the entire system. Without freedom of speech, the right to protest, and the ability to hold authorities accountable, democracy becomes an empty façade. Today’s reaction of the Mayor and the services subordinate to him proved that in Poznań, democracy exists only for the chosen few and ends where business interests begin.”