Poland celebrates the 42nd anniversary of the signing of the so-called August Agreements which led to the establishment of Solidarity - the first trade union in communist states of the Eastern Bloc. One of the central figures of those events - Poland's former president Lech Wałęsa - announced he would not take part in this year's commemorations due to health problems.
42 years ago, in the summer of 1980, Poland saw a wave of mass protests sparked by the increase of food prices. First strikes broke out in the seaside cities.
On August 30, 1980, an agreement was signed in Szczecin, ending the strikes in West Pomerania. The first agreement between the striking workers and the government was followed the next day by the Gdańsk Agreement, signed by Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee Chief Lech Wałęsa and Deputy PM Mieczysław Jagielski, at the legendary BHP Hall of the Lenin Shipyard.
The Gdańsk Agreement, also known as August Agreements, led to the establishing of Solidarity - the first legal and independent trade union in communist states of the Soviet Bloc - and spurred the systemic changes of 1989, toppling of communism and dismantling of post-Yalta order.
This year's commemorations in Gdańsk were held without former president Lech Wałęsa, who is in hospital.
"He is the biggest symbol of these commemorations. He used to gather people here," Deputy Speaker of the Sejm Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska said after laying wreaths at the Solidarity Square on Wednesday.
"Shame that Wałęsa isn't here," said Wałęsa's colleague and one the key figures of 1980s strikes Henryka Krzywonos-Strychalska.
"He promised us we would always be together. We never fight, even when we don't share common ground. We're like a good family. When help is needed, we stand shoulder to shoulder like we should," she added.
"On this day we celebrate the Day of #Solidarity and Freedom on the anniversary of the signing of the August Agreements in 1980, which initiated the fall of #communism and changes in Central and Eastern Europe" - Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland said in a tweet.
"Solidarity won because it was a joint achievement of our nation," president Andrzej Duda said in his address issued to mark the occasion.
"In very trying times, it exposed the truth about us: that we are brave and resilient, sensitive to wrongdoing and injustice, fraternally open to the needs of others," Duda added.
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Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP