Angry protests erupted in Warsaw, Poland yesterday (August 3, 2010) when government officials -- acting on orders from President-elect Bronislaw Komorowski -- moved to dismantle a cross that had been erected outside the presidential palace in memory of the late President Lech Kaczynski.
Police held back hundreds of protesters and made several arrests, but decided to postpone the removal of the cross. The government had planned to move the cross to a nearby Catholic Church, according to the Catholic Culture website.
The cross -- which was erected in memory of President Kaczynski after the Polish leader died in a plane crash last April -- has become the focus of a dispute over Church influence in Poland.
Conservative Catholics -- including Jaroslaw Kaczynski, twin brother of of the deceased leader and head of the opposition party -- had urged leaving the cross in place. On the other hand, President-elect Komorowski -- who favors a more secular approach to political leadership -- said that it was inappropriate to have the religious symbol outside a government building.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment