Polish ruling party HQ paint-bombed after women's rights protest

As the three-hour long “Black Wednesday” protest, which police said saw up to 1,500 people demonstrating, came to an end, a number of people allegedly threw 11 balloons filled with pink paint at the Law and Justice (PiS) building, six of which failed to explode, according to police.

As many as 1,500 people marched in Warsaw on Wednesday. Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański.

According to Interior Minister Joachim Brudziński, one of those people has been charged while the police are trying to identify the others.

Brudziński said the attack was “full of hate” and that police would react strongly to such “hooliganism”.

Last week, the lower house of Polish parliament threw out a bill to relax Poland’s strict abortion laws after the first reading, while sending another bill to outlaw termination of disfigured and disabled foetuses to a parliamentary commission for review.

Under Poland's existing laws, abortions are allowed only if the pregnancy is the result of crime such as incest or rape, threatens the life or health of the woman, or if the foetus is severely deformed or ill.

Anti-abortion activists and the Polish president have claimed that the last case allows for termination of children with Down or Turners Syndrome as well as other children who would otherwise live happy lives.

Last October, thousands of women wearing black took to the streets in cities across Poland demanding more liberal abortion laws and marking the original “Black Protest” of 3 October, 2016, which made international headlines. (vb/pk)

Source: IAR