Protests in Poland after Warsaw Mayor bans religious symbols in city hall

The recent decision by Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski to remove religious symbols from the city hall building has sparked major protests across the country, with opposition PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński accusing the EPP of “destroying religion and people’s faith”.

On 8 May, Trzaskowski issued a decree on equal treatment standards in the town hall. Among other things, the decree bans the display of religious symbols on the walls of offices and workers’ desks.  However, workers can still wear the symbols on their bodies and clothing.

It is still common practice in Poland to hang crosses together with the national emblem in public institutions, including state administration offices and schools. There is even a cross above the door of the plenary chamber of the lower house of parliament.  A few years ago, the Polish left campaigned for its removal, but the proposal failed to gain widespread support.

Warsaw is the first city in Poland to formally ban religious symbols in offices in the interests of non-discrimination.

Destroying religion?

Trzaskowski’s decision outraged many conservative groups, as well as the opposition right-wing PiS (ECR) and the Confederation parties, which linked the issue to the ongoing European election campaign, although Trzaskowski is not standing for election to the European Parliament.

Trzaskowski was attacking the freedom of belief and religion of the Polish people, argued Civic Platform MEPs Michał Wawer and Roman Fritz.  Such a decision (as Trzaskowski’s) cannot be condoned not only by any Catholic but by any civilised person.  Freedom of conscience and religion is part of our (Polish) cultural and civilisational heritage,” Wawer said.

PiS MP Małgorzata Gosiewska submitted a request to the provincial administration of Mazowieckie voivodship, where Warsaw is located, to declare Trzaskowski’s decree illegal.  Meanwhile, the ultra-conservative legal institute Ordo Iuris filed a complaint against Trzaskowski for abuse of office.

In the statement published on its website, the institute cited the constitutional right to freedom of conscience and religion, including the right to express one’s religion in various forms, as well as the 2010 Senate resolution stating that “any attempt to ban the cross in schools, hospitals and public offices hit Poland’s tradition, heritage and national pride.”

The Ordo Iuris also referred to the 2011 ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in the Lautsi v Italy case, which stated that the display of crucifixes in school classrooms did not violate the European Convention on Human Rights.

PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński went so far as to accuse Trzaskowski’s party and its European group of trying to remove religion from people’s lives.

“This European option is just that – (it wants) to destroy religion, destroy what people believe that they are more than just homo sapiens, that they are human beings who have a soul, that they are human beings made in the image and likeness of God,” he said, referring to the European People’s Party.

The EPP does not claim to have such goals and in its 2019 manifesto, the party states that it wants to “protect our European way of life by preserving our Christian values and fundamental principles.”

“What makes Europe unique in the world is our rich cultural heritage, our shared history and our common Judeo-Christian roots,” the manifesto reads.

Mayor denies fighting religion

Trzaskowski defended his decision, insisting that the new rules were not aimed at fighting religion but at ensuring the city’s secular character.

“Let’s not get crazy.  No one intends to wage a battle against any religion in Warsaw.  The capital will also always respect its traditions. (…) But Poland is a secular state and Warsaw is the capital of this state,” he wrote on X.

He added that everyone had the right to their faith, including civil servants, but anyone who came to the office to do their business had the right to feel they were in a neutral office.

Trzaskowski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk, both members of the Civic Platform (PO, EPP), have repeatedly insisted that  -like the vast majority of the Polish people – they are Catholic.

In the 2021 census, 71.3% of Poland’s 36.8 million people identified themselves as Catholic.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)

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