· Farmers from all over Poland protested in Warsaw against the European Union’s harmful “climate” policy.
· During the demonstration, clashes with the police broke out. Media footage shows provocative actions by police officers who behaved aggressively towards the protesters, using pepper spray, telescopic batons, physical violence, and unlawfully detaining demonstrators.
· Ordo Iuris lawyers are defending the detained farmers, who were placed in custody and then charged with violating the physical integrity of police officers by throwing eggs at them, which allegedly hit the officers’ legs, and for moving in a crowd in connection with their participation in the protest.
· The Institute’s lawyers are also preparing a report on the possible commission of a crime by police officers who were responsible for ensuring the safe conduct of the gathering.
General farmers’ protest in Warsaw
On 6 March 2024, a farmers’ protest took place in Warsaw. It aimed to oppose the European Union’s “climate” policy, which, according to the organisers, will lead to the collapse of agriculture and, as a consequence, a huge increase in food and energy prices that will affect all Poles, especially the poorest. Farmers from all over Poland took part in the demonstration against the unfavourable regulations of the European Green Deal. The participants included elderly people, women, and children.
Brutal pacification of the farmers’ protest
A few hours after the protest began, police carried out numerous attacks on the demonstrators. The officers used direct coercive measures, such as pepper spray and telescopic batons, against the protesters without prior warning . However, according to Article 34 of the Act on Direct Coercive Measures and Firearms, “direct coercive measures may be used after a prior ineffective call on a person to behave in accordance with the law and after warning them of the intention to use such measures”, whereras many of those attacked behaved completely passively at the time of the police assault.
The Ordo Iuris Institute will file a report on suspected criminal offences
Dozens of recordings carefully analysed by lawyers from the Ordo Iuris Institute show that the police used unjustified force against the demonstrators. At one point, the police began aggressively entering the crowd and picking out specific individuals, including completely random people. This is confirmed by recordings published in the media and on social networking sites. Sławomir Mentzen, a member of the political party “Confederation”, who had been standing with the farmers, was also attacked with pepper spray. In one of the recordings, we see a police officer throwing a paving stone into the crowd and another officer who, together with a second officer, is leading a farmer with his hands tied behind his back and strikes him forcefully on the head. We also see several officers knocking down a farmer who was standing peacefully, holding only a Polish flag.
The Ordo Iuris Institute will file reports of suspected criminal offences in connection with the observed abuses by the police, including acts of unjustified violence against demonstrators and cases of direct aggression and dangerous behaviour by police officers.
Help for detained farmers
On the evening of the protest, the Solidarity union (Polish biggest trade union) farmers’ section contacted Ordo Iuris lawyers to request legal assistance in connection with the detention of participants in the gathering. At that time, intensive efforts were under way to determine how many participants of the protest had been detained and where they had been taken. The union was contacted by distraught family members and friends of the protesting farmers who were unable to locate their loved ones.
Lawyers from the Ordo Iuris Institute obtained temporary authorisation to defend the detained farmers and immediately went to the police stations where they were being held.
65-year-old man deemed a hooligan
One of the detained farmers, who is receiving free legal assistance from the Ordo Iuris Institute, is 65-year-old Mr Andrzej from Lower Silesia. Immediately on the day of his detention, lawyers from the Ordo Iuris Institute, at the request of the farmers’ Solidarity union, went to the police station in Żytnia Street, where the detainee was being held. The farmer’s very concerned family reported that the man had serious heart problems. At the scene, the police said that the elderly man had been taken for an urgent medical examination and that all proceedings involving him would take place the following day.
The next day, from the early morning hours, Ordo Iuris lawyers contacted the police to determine whether the man had returned from the examination, when and whether procedural activities would be carried out with him, and when he would be released. The farmer’s defence lawyer was summoned to the police station in the afternoon, the day after the farmer’s detention. Only then was he able to have a brief conversation with the detained man.
The police charged him with participating in a crowd and violating the physical integrity of two police officers, as he allegedly threw eggs at their legs. According to the police, the detained farmer showed “blatant disregard for the legal order”, which means that the act he was accused of was classified as hooliganism.
The man’s fingerprints were taken before he was released. Despite lengthy efforts by the technicians and repeated attempts to place his hands on the reader, the fingerprint reader was unable to scan Mr Andrzej’s fingerprints. Finally, the fingerprints were taken using the traditional method, by pressing ink-dipped fingers onto a piece of paper. The technicians taking the fingerprints stated that the farmer’s hands were so worn that his fingerprints had simply been worn away by hard work.
Ordo Iuris lawyers helped the elderly man get to the train station and bought him a ticket home. The man reported that, during his detention, the police officers were very vulgar towards him and the other detainees and treated them with contempt.
22-year-old charged with walking in a crowd of protesters
On the night of 6 March 2024, directly from the police station in Żytnia Street, lawyers from the Ordo Iuris Institute went to the police station in Żeromskiego Street in Warsaw, where a 22-year-old farmer from Greater Poland who had participated in the protest and had also been detained that day was being held. At the scene, the police confirmed that the young man had been placed in custody, but they did not allow contact with him, indicating that any information on the case would only be available in the morning.
The next day, the lawyers of the detained farmer contacted the police demanding to see him. After meeting with the detainee, they continued to wait for the time of the proceedings involving him to be set and for him to be released. During this time, the lawyers were in constant contact with a group of friends who had travelled to the Warsaw protest with the detained farmer the day before and were now waiting for their friend to be released.
In the afternoon, Ordo Iuris lawyers were finally informed that the police intended to conduct proceedings with the detained young farmer. His defence lawyer went to the police station. In the decision to present charges, the law-enforcement authorities indicated that they suspected the young man of “actively participating in a gathering by moving with the crowd, knowing that its participants were jointly committing a violent attack on a person or property”. The act he was accused of was also classified as hooliganism. The man’s only offence was therefore that he participated in a legal gathering, which he did not manage to leave before the police began picking out random participants from the crowd. He was not accused of any personal acts of lawlessness or violence. After the charges were brought, the young farmer was released and returned to his family home with his friends who were waiting for him.
In both cases, an expedited procedure (24-hour court) was considered. However, the proceedings will continue in the normal course, during which Ordo Iuris lawyers will continue to defend the detained farmers.
Defenders from the Ordo Iuris Institute will file complaints against the detention in both cases. The stories of these farmers contradict the accounts of ministers and politicians, who claim that the protesters were aggressive hooligans throwing stones and paving stones at the police.
Image source: Adobe Stock.
