Poland protests a summer of violence against Ukrainians

On August 9, Polish citizens protested against a surge in violence targeting Ukrainians across 22 cities, according to the Polish news outlet RMF24. The Committee for the Defense of Democracy, a civic group, organized these demonstrations in response to verbal and physical attacks against Ukrainians due to their origin, language, or appearance. Cities affected included Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk, Poznan, Wroclaw, and others.

Following a previous demonstration in Warsaw on Friday, the protests came after organizers submitted a petition with over 11,000 signatures to the Interior Ministry. They demanded decisive action against the attacks on Ukrainian citizens. Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported a spike in such incidents in recent weeks. One example cited involved a Ukrainian couple in Wroclaw who were beaten, reportedly due to their accent.

In Gdansk, a Ukrainian passerby was assaulted along with two Polish residents who called them "Banderites." Poznan saw three men insult a Ukrainian man before beating a 60-year-old bystander who attempted to intervene.

A recent poll indicated that more Poles now oppose than support accepting refugees from Ukraine. Meduza, a news outlet, emphasized the transparency of its use of artificial intelligence in journalism, noting that this story was written by a human journalist and translated from Russian using an AI configured to adhere to strict editorial standards. Every draft undergoes review by a Meduza editor before publication. Readers are encouraged to report any errors in the translated content to reports@meduza.io.