Poles mourn critic of ruling party’s anti-immigration policies who was stabbed at charity event

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Polish and European officials joined thousands of people from across Poland on Saturday for the funeral of Paweł Adamowicz, the mayor of the northern city of Gdańsk, who died on Monday after being stabbed the night before at a charity event.

The European council president, Donald Tusk, a friend of Adamowicz, was among those attending the burial at the vast Gothic St Mary’s Basilica. Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, and the prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, also attended along with former leaders including Lech Wałęsa.

Other dignitaries included the former German president Joachim Gauck and city mayors from other countries. The black urn with the mayor’s ashes will be laid to rest at one of the basilica’s chapels.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mourners attend a funeral ceremony for Paweł Adamowicz. Photograph: Adam Warżawa/EPA

Crowds in the streets watched the ceremony on giant screens. A solemn procession brought Adamowicz’s casket to the basilica for a mass on Friday night. The body was then cremated.

Earlier, thousands of Poles, carrying flags and candles in cold streets, walked beside the coffin.

The killing of a liberal critic of the ruling party’s anti-immigrant policies highlighted the charged atmosphere in parts of eastern Europe, where populist leaders have fanned nationalist sentiment.

A car drove Adamowicz’s corpse slowly through the Baltic coast city from the museum of the Solidarity movement that helped to bring down communism in Poland 30 years ago.

'A tragic moment': thousands gather across Poland to mourn Gdańsk mayor Read more

From there, it passed schools, monuments and other places significant in 53-year-old Adamowicz’s life, en route to the city’s main church, St Mary’s Basilica, for burial on Saturday.

The streets, in some places covered with thin snow, were blocked, as crowds paid tribute to one of Poland’s longest-serving mayors who ran the city since 1998 and beat the candidate of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party in October.

“We all feel great emptiness after the mayor has gone, mostly because he left in such a way, such a town, such a moment. I think that a certain stage of history, of humanity, is over,” said mourner Ewa Wasinska-Stelter, 46, a teacher.

Adamowicz was attacked on stage during one of Poland’s biggest annual charity events last Sunday and died the following day.

Polish authorities have arrested a 27-year-old former convict, named only as Stefan W, over the killing. Speaking on stage, the attacker accused the mayor’s former party of putting him in prison, where he said he was tortured.

The killing of Gdańsk’s mayor is the tragic result of hate speech | Piotr Buras Read more

He was freed last month after serving 5–1/2 years for attempted bank robbery.

Authorities have also detained at least 10 people in recent days over calls on social media to murder and other acts of aggression in the wake of Adamowicz’s death.

Critics blame Poland’s politicians for cranking up hate speech in public life.

Adamowicz was one of 11 Polish mayors targeted with fake death certificates by a far-right group called All-Polish Youth in 2017, after signing a declaration to welcome refugees in opposition to government policy.

Support for the conservative PiS fell to 30% in the wake of Adamowicz’s death, according to a poll conducted by Kantar Millward Brown for Gazeta Wyborcza daily, from 33% in November. The biggest opposition grouping Koalicja Obywatelska has 25%.

As well as encouraging migrants to seek refuge in Gdańsk, Adamowicz was known for backing a campaign to defend rule of law against what activists consider efforts by the PiS to increase political control over the judiciary and other bodies.