Warsaw Independence March Draws Divided Crowd Estimates

Warsaw’s annual Independence Day march drew a large nationalist-right crowd on November 11, as police reinforced security and officials and organizers offered sharply different attendance estimates. City authorities put the turnout at 250,000, while march organizers estimated about 500,000. No independent count was reported to resolve the difference.

President Karol Nawrocki walked at the head of the gathering, which extended more than three kilometres, according to reporting from the march. Participants carried Polish flags, and some lit flares despite an official ban. Police brought officers from outside Warsaw, installed concrete barriers near the starting area and searched nearby streets. Police did not disclose the size of the deployment.

The event took place amid political tensions following a shooting in Krakow that killed six people. Poland’s National Prosecutors’ Office spokesperson Przemysław Nowak said investigators had not established what prompted the shooting. Government officials had said the suspect may have been influenced by far-right ideology; Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said the suspect had been interested in Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik....