Polish Farmers Clash With Police Outside Parliament in Warsaw

People carry Polish flags and banners, as farmers protest outside Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's office against the European Union's Green Deal and imports of Ukrainian agricultural products, in Warsaw, Poland, on March 6, 2024. (Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

Protesting farmers clashed with police outside the Parliament building in Warsaw, Poland’s capital, on March 6, with police using pepper spray and accusing some participants of violence against security forces.

Thousands of Polish farmers also protested outside the prime minister’s office as they demanded a halt to cheap imports and European Green Deal regulations they say harm their livelihoods.

Poland’s biggest trade union, NSZZ Solidarity, backed the farmers. Hunters and forestry workers also joined the protest.

Farmers across the European Union (EU) have been calling for changes to the restrictions imposed on them by the bloc’s Green Deal plan and for the reimposition of customs duties on agricultural products imported from Ukraine that were waived following Russia’s invasion.

On Mar. 6, farmers partially blocked some highways with tractors on the outskirts of Warsaw, according to Warsaw police posts on X (formerly Twitter).

On one intersection in Warsaw, protesters intermittently entered the pedestrian crossing and then left it, allowing waiting vehicles to pass, police said on X.

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Protesting farmer Krzysztof, 38, who didn’t provide his last name, told Reuters, “We don’t agree with the demands of the Green Deal, with restricting our use of chemical products, of everything, with importing illegal food that is chemically contaminated, that’s what we are opposed to.”

NSZZ Solidarity Deputy Chairman Tomasz Ognisty told Polish radio station Wnet.fm that protesters hadn’t received permission for tractors to enter the capital.

Earlier on March 6, some of the protesters carried and then burned a coffin bearing a sign that read, “Farmer, lived 20 years, killed by the Green Deal.” As they thronged the street in front of the prime minister’s office, the protesters blew horns and held Polish flags aloft before marching to the Parliament. Some of them burned tires and used firecrackers.

Farmers clashed with police near the Parliament building, with the police using pepper spray.

“Due to physical aggression against police officers by some of the people protesting ... it was necessary to use direct coercive measures,” police wrote on X.

“Behaviors that threaten the safety of our officers, including throwing cobblestones at them, cannot be taken lightly and require a firm and decisive response.”

They stated that several officers were wounded and about a dozen people were detained.

A witness said that the police pepper-sprayed a demonstrator holding a Polish flag and another who was hurling an object at the police, according to Reuters.

Polish farmers with their tractors beside a major road during a protest in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland, on March 6, 2024. (Czarek Sokolowski/AP Photo)

Warsaw city hall spokesperson Monika Beuth said that an estimated 30,000 people participated in the protest, the Polish Press Agency reported.

The city is preparing to document the damage caused by the protests and is considering the possibility of asking the organizers to pay for repairs, Ms. Beuth said.

Fire burns in the street as farmers protest outside Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's office in Warsaw, Poland, on March 6, 2024. (Aleksandra Szmigiel/Reuters)

The deputy agriculture minister, Michal Kolodziejczak, said he didn’t believe that “real, normal farmers caused a riot in front of the [Parliament]” and that it was necessary to isolate “provocateurs and troublemakers.”

Anti-Ukrainian slogans have featured at the Polish protests, where authorities have said they are concerned that Russia is trying to leverage legitimate concerns to create divisions between Warsaw and Kyiv.

Police Response

Polish news outlet Niezalezna reported that the police used tear gas and allegedly attacked farmers with batons. Some farmers were “knocked to the ground and handcuffed,” according to the website.

The chairman of NSZZ Solidarity, Tomasz Obszanski, told TV Republika, a Polish TV station, that he and other protesters attempted to enter the chancellery to submit a request to Parliament but weren’t allowed to do so, as reported by the portal.

Subsequently, the police blocked the street and allegedly provoked the protesters, Mr. Obszanski said, according to Niezalezna.

TV Republika also posted a photo showing a policeman throwing an object into the crowd of people.

Police officers detain a man during the protests in Warsaw, Poland, on March 6, 2024. (Michal Dyjuk/AP Photo)

Polish lawmakers representing the opposition party Law and Justice (PiS) held a press conference at the Parliament and criticized the government’s response to the protest.

Member of Parliament (MP) Piotr Kaleta (PiS) said, “We know that the Polish police are behaving in accordance with the orders ... but all those who manage the Polish police are directly responsible for this.”

Mr. Kaleta called on the Polish government, the prime minister, and Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski not to underestimate Polish farmers or debase them but to become their defenders because it’s the government’s role.

MP Anna Kwiecien (PiS) said she spoke with the protesters who told her they believed that some people were provocateurs who tried to confuse protesters using firecrackers and various objects.

While reiterating that the police must follow orders, Ms. Kwiecien said: “Today, farmers are also fighting for your safety. Keep this in mind.”

While farmers were protesting outside the Parliament, opposition lawmakers urged all parties to include a resolution in the parliamentary agenda. The resolution calls on the government to institute a ban on imports of agri-food products from Ukraine and to negotiate effective custom protection mechanisms with the EU, according to MP Anna Gembicka (PiS).

The resolution was proposed by farmers and introduced by the PiS caucus, but lawmakers from the ruling coalition voted against the motion to work on it, Ms. Gembicka said at the conference.

Ms. Kwiecien recalled that last year, the former PiS government imposed an embargo on the import of grain products from Ukraine.

In 2023, the former Polish government banned imports of grains from Ukraine twice, in April and September, according to a statement. The ban didn’t affect the transit of Ukrainian products through Poland, the statement said.

Sanctions on Russia, Belarus

Mr. Tusk said on March 4 that he would ask the Polish Parliament to enact a resolution calling on the European Commission to impose full sanctions on agricultural and food products from Russia and its ally Belarus.

The protest increased pressure on the government led by Mr. Tusk, a former president of the European Council who’s strongly pro-EU and seeks to support Ukraine as it fights Russia’s invasion.

The prime minister has invited farming leaders to talks on March 9.

EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski said on March 5 in a post on X that grain imports from Russia to Poland are negligible.

In 2023, they amounted to 3,500 metric tons of cereals and 4,000 metric tons of oilseeds, said Mr. Wojciechowski, the Polish member of the European Commission.

According to a report by Poland’s Supreme Audit Office, the total imports of grains into Poland in 2022 amounted to about 3.3 million metric tons, with 75 percent of that coming from Ukraine.

Poland is a net exporter of grain, and in 2022, the country exported about 9 million metric tons, according to the report.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.