German police beat Poles in Berlin yesterday who wanted to erect a cross commemorating Polish victims of German Nazism. The government in Warsaw is mocking the entire situation. Donald Tusk referred to the incident as a “Berlin scuffle”. “In every situation where the police intervene against Polish citizens, of course we will check whether everything is in accordance with the law, whether there was any excessive intervention, but in reality what Bąkiewicz is doing is embarrassing, let’s not fool ourselves,” the head of government said today at a press conference.
On Tuesday, members of the Border Defence Movement arrived in Berlin at the site of a boulder placed near the German parliament, which is intended to commemorate Polish victims of the Second World War. They wanted to place a symbolic cross there, but the German police did not allow it. A brutal attack on the gathered Poles took place. Immediately after singing “Rota”, members of the Border Defence Movement moved with the cross toward the memorial site of victims of Germans during the Second World War. At that moment, the German police attacked the demonstrators. Officers began kicking and punching them. Some members of the Border Defence Movement were taken to hospital.
Representatives of the government in Warsaw referred critically and mockingly to this incident, in which the German police aggressively treated Poles.
Donald Tusk was also asked about it. His statement was mainly a critique of the leader of the Border Defence Movement, Robert Bąkiewicz.
“I do not know whether this even requires comment. I feel as if, if I were now to start considering what Bąkiewicz is doing and how he operates, I would feel rather ridiculous. In every situation where the police intervene against Polish citizens, of course we will check whether everything is in accordance with the law, whether there was any excessive intervention, but in reality what Bąkiewicz is doing is embarrassing, let’s not fool ourselves. I am not here to defend the German police, I must defend the Polish police. Increasingly often I have to defend the Polish police, the Border Guard against Bąkiewicz – that is my problem and that is what I focus on. Such expeditions and such stories are, in my opinion, very embarrassing for these people,” said the prime minister of the government in Warsaw.
He admitted that he has “no expectations whatsoever” toward Bąkiewicz.
“And the fact that from time to time he will embarrass us, because it embarrasses Poland, such actions, I know he will probably try to continue doing so. The fact that Law and Justice (PiS) politicians fall into hysteria from time to time, into a hyper-patriotic tone on the occasion of this Berlin scuffle, is also embarrassing for them,” Tusk added.