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Mass demonstrations have exposed underlying anger at political and religious interference in people’s everyday livesFor 14 nights they have marched, enraged by a near-total ban on abortion that has stirred a generation to stage the largest mass demonstrations that Poland has seen since Solidarność toppled the communist regime in the 1980s.Until soaring coronavirus numbers and a looming national lockdown made it almost impossible, up...

Anti-government rallies continue over court’s ruling to restrict access to terminationsPoland’s rightwing government has delayed implementation of a controversial court ruling that would outlaw almost all abortion after it prompted the largest protests since the fall of communism.“There is a discussion going on, and it would be good to take some time for dialogue and for finding a new position in this situation, which...

Women’s rights protesters incensed by the country’s strict new laws clash with rightwing gangs in the Polish capitalIt was a surreal sight – and a terrible sound. On Friday evening, as tens of thousands of pro-choice protesters gathered in Warsaw for a massive demonstration against a near-total ban on abortion, military police in red berets formed a protective cordon around the Church of the...

About 100,00o people take to the streets of Warsaw to oppose tightened abortion lawAbout one hundred thousand protesters took to the streets of the Polish capital, Warsaw, on Friday, in the largest demonstration of popular anger directed against Poland’s ruling rightwing Law and Justice party (PiS) since it assumed office in 2015.Protests have been held across the country since Poland’s constitutional tribunal declared earlier...

Justice minister says Istanbul convention is ‘ideological’ and enforces the teaching of genderPoland will take steps next week to withdraw from a European treaty on violence against women, which the rightwing cabinet has said violates parents’ rights by requiring schools to teach children about gender.The justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, told a news conference on Saturday his ministry would submit a request to the labour...

Proposal would ban terminations even on grounds of serious foetal abnormalitiesPoland’s parliament has deferred a final decision on a bill that seeks to tighten the country’s already strict abortion legislation.The bill would outlaw abortion on the grounds of serious foetal abnormalities, one of a small number of exceptions to a near-total ban on abortion currently in place in the country. It has been sent...