Polish citizenship rights, like protection abroad, only apply to people on the ‘right’ side of politics, that is, those who agree with Tusk’s center-left government. Everyone else is on their own.
This was made very clear by Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski after news broke that German police violently assaulted a group of right-wing Poles who were trying to hold a memorial for Polish victims of World War II in Berlin.
The victims belonged to the Border Defense Movement (ROG), a group of citizens who began patrolling the German-Polish border to prevent German authorities’ illegal migrant dumping last year, which the Tusk government did next to nothing to stop.
This time, however, members led by ROG leader Robert Bąkiewicz had travelled to pay tribute to Polish victims of the Nazis and place a wooden cross next to an already existing memorial in Berlin.
The event quickly descended into confrontation, with video footage showing police officers wrestling several participants to the ground, striking some activists, and making a number of arrests. According to Bąkiewicz’s daughter, Blanka, several participants were taken to hospital, including her father, whom she said suffered broken ribs.
When footage of the incident spread online, the foreign minister, whose job is to protect and represent all Polish people abroad, mocked the victims of the unprovoked brutality by suggesting that they behave better next time.
“Local laws and orders from law enforcement must be followed. Consuls of the Republic of Poland provide assistance, but they cannot always protect against the effects of imprudent behavior,” Sikorski said, adding: “I wish you happy holidays and a safe return home!”
Blanka Bąkiewicz was quick to call out Sikorski’s condescending tone and argue that Polish authorities had legal obligations towards citizens injured or detained abroad, citing both the constitution and Poland’s consular law.
“Polish citizens were assaulted by German police, taken to hospital, required medical assistance—and the Polish state has an obligation to react! It is not a matter of your sympathy or grace! This is your sacred duty! Please stop lecturing Poles and start defending Polish citizens or resign for incompetence,” she wrote.
Sikorski wasn’t the only politician belonging to the ruling coalition who reacted with obvious satisfaction to seeing his compatriots being beaten to a pulp by another country’s authorities.
“Finally, someone at the level took care of Bąkiewicz and his deluded followers. Bravo!,” Krzysztof Śmiszek, a leftist MEP and, ironically, human rights lawyer, wrote.
Another politician, belonging to Tusk’s Civic Platform, even mocked Bąkiewicz for saying he was put in a “cage” where he couldn’t breathe after the police broke his ribs. “Breathe through your nose! Nose! The cages have holes! Breathe sir! Damn, breathe through your nose!” Bartosz Arlukowicz, a doctor by profession, wrote.
