1000s protest media restrictions in Polish capital
Thousands of people have held a demonstration outside the Polish parliament in the capital, Warsaw, to vent their anger at government plans to restrict press reporting from the legislature.
Waving white-and-red national flags and blowing horns, protesters chanted slogans such as "Free media!" during Friday’s event, which was mobilized by the civic movement, the Committee for the Defense of Democracy.
Ex-Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski, addressed the protest, denouncing the conduct of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS).
The measures proposed by the head office of the Sejm, the lower house of the polish legislature, would ban all recording of parliamentary sessions except by five selected television stations and curb the number of journalists allowed in the building. The new rules are due to take effect on 1 January.
"This restriction, first of all, does not hit journalists, but the rights of citizens to be fully informed about what people elected by them to the parliament do," Poland's largest independent news outlets said in a statement.
Earlier on Friday, opposition MP Michal Szczerba held aloft a placard reading "free media" in the parliamentary podium and was therefore excluded from further debate or votes.
Other opposition parliamentarians then joined Szczerba, shouting "free media" and "no censorship.”
The protest delayed a key budget vote that was later held away from the main parliament chamber.
The opposition accused the government of approving the 2017 state budget unlawfully and demanded that the vote be held again.
After the budget was passed, demonstrators blocked all exits from the parliament and prevented lawmakers from leaving the legislature chanting "We will win!"
Opposition MP Jerzy Meysztowicz told the TVN24 news channel that police used tear gas to clear a passage out of the legislature.
Kaczynski, who denounced the protest as "hooliganism,” left the parliament in the early hours of Saturday after police forcefully removed protesters.
Another protest is planned to be held in front of the Polish presidential palace at Saturday noon.
Since 1989, when the first democratic election was held in Poland, journalists have been a constant presence in the parliament's halls and allowed to grab politicians for interviews.
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