Memorial cross forces nation to question the role of faith

A cross honouring the victims of the plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski has provoked thousands of protesters to take to the streets to demand its removal.

Polish scouts erected the 10m wooden cross in front of Warsaw's presidential palace nearly four months ago to commemorate the 96 passengers, including the President, who died when their plane crashed in thick fog in western Russia in April.

Official attempts to move the cross to a church have led to violent clashes between police and Catholic pro-cross demonstrators and mass counter-protests by youthful secularists who insist the emblem must go.

"The cross has no place in front of a presidential palace in a secular state," one protester told Polish television yesterday.

Footage of the scene outside the palace has shown the streets thronged with placard-waving protesters confronting a hard core of pro-cross demonstrators, who are holding a round-the-clock candle-lit vigil. "We will not move from here until a permanent memorial for the victims has been approved," said one pro-cross demonstrator.

The Government and Warsaw city authorities have called off all attempts to remove the cross while the dispute simmers. Commentators argue the row has become a symbol of the social divide in Poland, where a staunchly Catholic and conservative older generation is struggling to hold sway in an increasingly emancipated post-communist society.

The late President's twin, Jaroslaw Kaczyniski, who heads Poland's conservative Law and Justice Party, has made a public appearance at the cross site, laid flowers and insisted it should be allowed to remain. He had hoped to succeed his brother as President but lost out in last month's elections.

The country's new President, Bronislaw Komorowski, is a leading member of Poland's liberal Civic Platform party, which is pro-market and favours reform.

Kaczynski, renowned for opposing gay rights and abortion, boycotted Komorowski's official swearing-in ceremony last week and has since argued that he was elected "as a result of a misunderstanding".

His critics have suggested that he is now trying to make up the political ground he lost in the presidential race by openly campaigning in the cross dispute. Prime Minister Donald Tusk has criticised Kaczynski for politicising the issue.

Public opinion remains divided. One poll showed that 71 per cent wanted the cross removed, while a second suggested 57 per cent wanted it kept in place until a permanent monument was built.

Poland's Catholic Church is split. In Warsaw, the Church favours moving the cross from its palace site to St Anne's Church. But Radio Maryja, the radical nationalist Catholic broadcasting station, has called on the faithful to rally to the defence of the cross in Warsaw.

- Independent