Walesa says he will confront Poland’s ruling party leader over democracy

WARSAW, Poland — Lech Walesa, who helped bring down communism in eastern Europe, accused Poland’s government of breaching the constitution and backsliding on democracy and said he would confront ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski in a protest next week.

A day before U.S. President Donald Trump visits Warsaw, Walesa and Wladyslaw Frasyniuk, a fellow leader of the Solidarity movement, wrote a letter published on the front page of newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza. They said they needed to uphold democratic values that were being taken away by Kaczynski’s Law and Justice Party.

Walesa and Frasyniuk they would join a protest next Monday along the route of a monthly procession led by Kaczynski to commemorate the 2010 plane crash in Smolensk, Russia, that killed his brother, Lech, who was then president. The demonstration, led by a group called Citizens of the Republic of Poland, usually attracts several dozen people and has led to scuffles. Frasyniuk carried away by police during the march June 10.

“We’re standing for basic civic freedoms and the right to assembly being taken away from us,” Walesa and Frasyniuk wrote. “On July 10, we the citizens will stand and face Jaroslaw Kaczynski to protect our rights.”

The protest began after Parliament passed a law that privileges “recurring assemblies,” a classification that includes the monthly procession Kaczynski leads. The measure bans other gatherings that may conflict with those that are protected.

The law is one of a several enacted by the Law and Justice government that opposition leaders and some European Union countries have criticized as suppressing democratic rights. The EU’s executive commission began an investigation last year into whether Poland is upholding the EU’s values.

Kaczynski, who wields the power behind the government despite holding no government position, was once an ally of Walesa. The two fell out in 1991 when Walesa, who then was president, fired Kaczynski as his chief of staff.