Polish police break through parliament blockade

Protestors had blocked exits from the parliament, preventing law makers from leaving, over the ruling party's insistance on passing the budget before next year, a move protestors say is illegal

17 December 2016, 10:00am

1 min read

Protesters who gathered outside the parliament building prevented law makers from leaving until the early hours of the morning when police broke through the blockade

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Protestors who had been blocking the exits from the Polish parliament, preventing MPs from leaving, were dispersed Saturday morning, by the police. The protestors claim that the Polish constitution is being violated by the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) which is insisting on passing the budget before next year, a move opposition protestors have called illegal.

The head of the PiS party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, was finally allowed to leave parliament in the early hours of the morning after police finally broke through a blockage of protestors.

Opposition party lawmaker Jerzy Meysztowicz said that the ruling PiS party had “crossed a line” after which “nothing will be the same again.” Meysztowicz claimed that police had used tear gas on the protestors to allow Kacyznski and the Prime Minister to leave the parliament building, however this was denied by the police.

A spokesman for the police said that gathering outside of parliament had been declared illegal after midnight and the police were forced to intervene in order to allow law makers to leave.