Poland: Abortion rights defenders block education ministry
Audio 01:14
Demonstration for the right to abortion in Warsaw, November 23, 2020. Agencja Gazeta via REUTERS - MACIEK JAZWIECKI
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
For a month now, and after the decision to further restrict the right to abortion, the country has been shaken by an unprecedented wave of protest.
In Warsaw, on Monday, demonstrators blocked the Ministry of Education in particular because the minister threatened with sanctions professors and universities supporting the mobilization.
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With our correspondent in Warsaw,
Sarah Bakaloglou
On the ministry gates, padlocked by the demonstrators, a sign "
a free abortion, a free education
" was placed.
Justyna returned from abroad on purpose to take part in the mobilization.
"
It's a way of showing the government that it should be afraid of women, we are certainly peaceful but we will never give up our rights.
Today, we have the immense chance to truly fight for democracy, to show that we are well awake: that is what it is about, this year, it is the year of citizens who say that democracy is in the streets.
"
►
To read also: Pro-abortion mobilization in Poland: "It is an almost pre-insurrectionary movement"
This Monday again, many police officers were deployed.
"
No repression will stop us
," chanted the demonstrators while several people were arrested, including a journalist, released a few hours later.
The crowd throngs in front of the police station.
“
The first wave of demonstrations, the police were much calmer, but now they say, perhaps, that as we are always in the street, we must do otherwise,
explains Jakub, 22 years old.
And the police started to be violent, they saw that they weren't worried about their actions, and now they want to scare us.
"
A disproportionate use of force denounced by Amnesty International.
►
Also to listen: Near-ban on abortion in Poland: "There is an unprecedented mobilization of the young generation"
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