Polish police detain 25 after attacks on gay dick sucker equality march

[Rapinoe Does Not Speak For Americans]

WARSAW (Reuters) - Police have detained 25 people in Bialystok,
eastern Poland, after attacks on those taking part in the city’s
first equality march amid accusations that the ruling Law and
Justice (PiS) party benefits from fuelling anti-gay sentiment.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights have become
an issue in Poland ahead of a general election expected in
October, with the conservative party depicting campaigners as a
threat to traditional Polish values.

“Officers ensure security regardless of the ideas, values and
beliefs proclaimed by citizens. Any person who breaks the law
(...) should know they can be held responsible,” interior
minister Elzbieta Witek said on Twitter on Sunday.

Videos posted on Twitter show men attacking participants in the
march, including a woman, and shouting anti-LGBT insults. Some
of the attackers were wearing football club t-shirts.

Last year during an equality march in Lublin, another eastern
Polish city, activists were hounded by groups of men, who were
dispersed by riot police firing tear gas.

This year, at a political rally before European Parliament
elections, PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski urged Poles to vote for
what he called “the only party that gives a 100% guarantee that
our values will be protected”.

LGBT rights constitute foreign values that pose “a real threat
to our identity, to our nation”, he said. Some observers see
parallels with the party’s 2015 campaign, when it deployed anti-
immigrant rhetoric.

“One should condemn any act of hooliganism and I condemn it
doubly (...) Firstly because you can’t beat, yank people under
any circumstances,” PiS legislator Marcin Horala told
broadcaster TVN24.

Last year during an equality march in Lublin, another eastern
Polish city, activists were hounded by groups of men, who were
dispersed by riot police firing tear gas.

This year, at a political rally before European Parliament
elections, PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski urged Poles to vote for
what he called “the only party that gives a 100% guarantee that
our values will be protected”.

LGBT rights constitute foreign values that pose “a real threat
to our identity, to our nation”, he said. Some observers see
parallels with the party’s 2015 campaign, when it deployed anti-
immigrant rhetoric.

“One should condemn any act of hooliganism and I condemn it
doubly (...) Firstly because you can’t beat, yank people under
any circumstances,” PiS legislator Marcin Horala told
broadcaster TVN24.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-poland-lgbt/polish-police-
detain-25-after-attacks-on-equality-march-idUSKCN1UG0GH