Sunday 30 May 2010

Text of the leaflet on demo against racist murder by police

UNITED AGAINST RACISM! NO ONE IS ILLEGAL!

We condemn the murder which took place in Warsaw at the Stadion on the 23rd of May. According to witnesses, a brutal murder was committed on a father of three children, who was killed during the arrest of another person. The person who was killed, a 36-year old Nigerian, tried to ask why his friend was being treated brutally by the police. For this, he was shot in the stomach, even though he was not a threat to the policeman. He died on the spot.


Like so many other badly paid workers, he was working on the weekends at the Stadion, in order to support his family. He didn't have many other opportunities to find work. Everyone knows how hard it is to find work in Poland for a foreigner. In addition, traders at the Stadion are often victims of police actions and are repressed by the city authorities, the Border Police and other organs of the state.

The actions of the police and Border Police at the Stadion serve only to protect the intellectual property of big corporations. It does not serve to protect the public good. The authorities are known to repress immigrants and forcing them to pay bribes. The police does not even respect the law, which already gives them so much power and so little protection to common people. On of the examples is unfortunately the tragedy of 23rd of May.

It has to be noted that the version of events as told by the police – that the policemen were attacked – turned out to be a lie which was not confirmed by the witnesses. But the authorities don’t mind it. The traders and immigrants are excluded and their voice is not taken into account. The police testify in solidarity with their colleague-murderer, and the district attorney will try to shut down the case. Let us not allow the killer to return on duty!

No one helps people in need find decent employment in Poland. On the contrary, the employers replace long-term contracts with temporary work, and employ people in dangerous and illegal conditions. Having no other opportunity for work, the workers suffer not only from the hard and dangerous conditions (such as during the construction of the Stadion), but also from continuous repressions from the police.

Immigrants are needed for the economy. But they will be discriminated against, badly paid and fall victims of repressions unless they receive legal status and permit to work. There is no conflict of interest between Polish and immigrant workers - they should stand together arm-in-arm, to fight in solidarity for their working conditions and higher wages, to receive legal and long-term employment, instead of the temporary illegal work they now have. Let the solidarity shown to Polish immigrant workers in Ireland and Great Britain by local trade-unions be an example.


We condemn police actions directed against people who are trying to survive in the current economic situation. We call for a common struggle against police terror!

Union of Syndicalists (ZSP) Warsaw