Thousands of people in Poland took to the streets on Tuesday to protest for women's rights, exactly a year after the country's Black Protest marches made international news.

Crowds of women dressed in black protested against a law proposed by a pro-life group to ban all abortions in Poland.

Poland's abortion laws are already among the strictest in the European Union and are allowed only if the fetus is the result of rape, endangers the mother's life or wellbeing, or is extremely ill or deformed.

The demonstrators were also protesting against a new law passed earlier this year to make the "morning-after" emergency contraception pill available by prescription only and collected signatures on a petition for more lax abortion laws.

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi attended the protest in Warsaw and said she "was proud [Polish women] were defending your rights".

Several dozen counter-protesters gathered behind a wall of police officers in Warsaw, carrying posters which read "Abortion today, Auschwitz tomorrow" and "Aborters kill Down Syndrome children".

Demonstrations were also held in other Polish cities and abroad.

On 3 October 2016, tens of thousands of women marched against an earlier bill which also advocated against abortions. (vb/pk)

Source: PAP