Some sirens sound in Poland’s disputed commemorative observance
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Sirens went off in some Polish cities early Sunday to mark the anniversary of the 2010 presidential plane crash, despite widespread protests that their sound would be unnecessary trauma for hundreds of thousands of refugees from the war in Ukraine.
The sirens were meant to add to the significance and plaintiveness of the celebrations honoring the late President Lech Kaczynski, the first lady and 94 other prominent Poles killed 12 years ago in a plane crash in Russia.
The sirens were heard at 06:41 GMT, the exact time the presidential plane crashed on April 10, 2010, near Smolensk, Russia.
Kaczynski was the twin of Jaroslaw Kaczynski who is the leader of the main ruling Law and Justice party and Poland’s key politician. The brothers founded the party in 2001.
Wreaths and flowers were laid in Warsaw and across the country at monuments and graves of victims of the national tragedy. Jaroslaw Kaczynski and party figures stood in front of monuments to the late president and all victims in downtown Warsaw.
Provincial governors, who represent the central government, ignored widespread calls of concern for refugees from neighboring Ukraine, traumatized by air raid alarms, not to use sirens. Some 2.6 million refugees – mostly women and children – have entered Poland since February 24, when Russian troops invaded Ukraine and began shelling it. Many need psychological care to deal with their trauma.
Authorities were texting refugees’ phones and posting public warnings that sirens would mean no danger.
The head of a Ukrainian support center in Warsaw, Myroslava Keryk, said that “Ukrainian mothers had time to explain to their children that the sirens will not trigger an air raid and that there was nothing to fear”.
But for many Poles, the use of sirens was a bad idea.
“This is a warning and alarm system, not celebrations,” said Adam Glogowski, a retired firefighter. “We don’t need sirens to remember, to honor the victims of the accident.”
Amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and hostile relations with Moscow, the Polish government is reigniting its controversial claim that the crash was a Kremlin assassination plot. It is fueled by Russia’s refusal to return the plane’s wreckage, hampering a detailed investigation.
“We have no doubt it was an assassination,” Kaczynski said last week, but offered no evidence.
Poland’s state commission responsible for analyzing air transport incidents said the crash in heavy fog on the approach to the crude Smolensk airport was the result of human error in adverse conditions. But a separate government-appointed team alleges explosions preceded the accident, which was intentional. She is due to present another of her reports on Monday.