POLAND: Protests take place against Russian investigation into plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski

Record ID: 715526

  • Title: POLAND: Protests take place against Russian investigation into plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski
  • Date: 10th April 2011
  • Summary: WARSAW, POLAND (APRIL 9, 2011) (REUTERS) PEOPLE ARRIVING FOR PROTEST OUTSIDE RUSSIAN EMBASSY RUSSIAN FLAG PEOPLE CHANTING IN FRONT OF EMBASSY PLACARD READING 'PUTIN-MURDERER, TUSK -TRAITOR' VARIOUS PEOPLE PROTESTING DEMONSTRATOR IN FRONT OF EMBASSY (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) WARSAW RESIDENT, TERESA TOKARSKA, SAYING: "A year has passed and we still don't know anything. Fo
  • Embargoed: 25th April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Poland, Poland
  • Country: Poland
  • Topics: International Relations,Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA1QDQC1SFT93HDJSUJCJGLYLFY
  • Story Text: Around 1000 people gathered on Saturday (April 9) in front of the Russian embassy to protest the results of the Russian investigation into a crash which killed Polish president Lech Kaczynski in Smolensk On Sunday (April 10) celebrations commemorating the first anniversary of the crash will be held nation-wide.
    Poland and Russia were both stunned on April 10 last year, when the plane carrying President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others, including his wife and top Polish army personnel crashed while trying to land at the airport in Smolensk.
    "A year has passed and we still don't know anything. For the whole year we have had to face disinformation and we haven't received any binding information. On the contrary, evidence is damaged, we receive false information and we still don't know anything," said Teresa Tokarska, an employee at small, private company.
    "I think that the report by the International Aviation Committee was a farce, in my opinion its content, its shape was prepared much earlier. I do not think that it brings us closer to the least possible extent to the truth about catastrophe in Smolensk," said another resident Lukasz Oprawski.
    A Russian report on the crash that put all blame on the Polish pilots and absolved Russian ground control of any responsibility revived traditional Polish suspicions of Moscow.
    A survey by TNS OBOP pollster for the Polityka weekly showed a large majority of Poles still think the crash has not been adequately explained. Nearly a quarter said mistakes by the Russian airport staff were mainly to blame for the crash.
    After the crash, ordinary Poles were split over the way their government responded to the results of the Russian-led investigation.
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