(ANSA-AP) - WARSAW, NOVEMBER 11 - Poland's president, prime
minister and other top leaders led an Independence Day march
Sunday that included members of nationalist organizations, the
first time Polish state officials have marched with the
far-right groups. Some 200,000 people marched in Warsaw to mark
the 100th anniversary of Poland's rebirth as an independent
state at the end of World War I, according to an initial
estimate by police. Over the past decade, nationalist
organizations have held Independence Day marches on Nov. 11
which have included racist slogans, flares and in some years,
acts of aggression. Officials sought to hold one big
government-led march for Sunday's centennial ceremonies, but
negotiations broke down over requests for the groups to leave
banners at home. An agreement on a joint march was reached in
recent days. President Andrzej Duda, Prime Minister Mateusz
Morawiecki and the powerful leader of the conservative ruling
party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, marched in a group led by soldiers
with a large flag bearing the words "For You Poland." Walking a
small distance behind them were the nationalists, many of them
burning flares, creating flashes of red light and smoke. Many in
that contingent carried national flags, but a handful of other
emblems were observed. Those included the flag of the National
Radical Camp, a far-right group that was one of the main march
organizers. The camp's flag has a falanga, a far-right symbol
dating to the 1930s of a stylized hand with a sword. There were
also a few flags of Forza Nuova, an Italian group whose leader,
Roberto Fiore, describes himself as fascist. As the Polish
president spoke at the start of the march, he was at times
obscured by the heavy smoke from the flares. Throughout the day,
solemn ceremo. (ANSA-AP).
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