(Warsaw) Thousands of people demonstrated on Sunday in front of the Polish President’s palace in Warsaw against a new media law intended, according to them, to muzzle the main independent television news channel in Poland.
Many demonstrators waved EU flags and chanted “Free media! And “We want a veto!” To ask President Andrzej Duda not to promulgate this law.
“We need freedom of expression,” said Emilia Zlotinska, 38, a protester. “I would like the president not to sign” the text.
Andrzej Lech, 71, with Polish and EU flags in hand, also found the law “unacceptable”. “It’s my duty to be here […] and whenever our freedom is in danger, ”he said.
Renowned journalists and opposition representatives, including former President of the European Council Donald Tusk (2014-2019), addressed the crowd, lit by Christmas lights.
“We are here today to defend media freedom. If we stick together, in solidarity, we will win. We will get rid of this government together, ”said Mr. Tusk, now head of the Civic Platform, a right-wing opposition party.
Similar protests were organized elsewhere in Poland.
The law wanted by the populist PiS (Law and Justice) party in power was voted on Friday by parliament in a surprise ballot.
PHOTO WOJTEK RADWANSKI, FRANCE-PRESS AGENCY
Many demonstrators waved EU flags and chanted “Free media! And “We want a veto!” To ask President Andrzej Duda not to promulgate this law.
It will prevent companies outside the European Economic Area from having a majority stake in Polish media companies.
In particular, this would force the American group Discovery to sell its own in TVN, one of the largest private television networks in Poland. TVN24 is his 24-hour news channel and is seen as critical of the ruling conservatives.
The government, for its part, claims that the law will protect the Polish media landscape against potentially hostile actors, such as Russia.
The United States said it was “extremely disappointed” with the law and urged President Duda to veto it.
For Discovery, this text “should worry any company investing in Poland and anyone who supports democracy and freedom of the press”.
The PiS already controls public television TVP, which has become a government propaganda medium, and much of the regional press.