Minister Kołodziejczak announces that he will defend farmers and ask the Ministry of Interior and Administration for explanations.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Michał Kołodziejczak, in an interview with Wirtualna Polska, announces that he will ask the Ministry of Interior and Administration for detailed explanations regarding police intervention during the farmers’ protest in Warsaw. According to him, he receives disturbing information about abuses committed by police officers while performing their duties.
The matter must be clarified
Explaining the behavior of the police and protesters is important to me. I will say quite boldly that it is personally very difficult. Now I see two sides in the government: water and fire, so clarifying this matter will be one of the most important things for me so far. I would not like it to be said about the government, which I also co-create, that farmers are beaten and clubbed. However, farmers must bear in mind that their protests will be used in different ways – he emphasizes in an interview with Wirtualna Polska.
At the same time, the minister, like his colleagues from the ministry, emphasizes that he does not believe that farmers are behaving provocatively.
Yesterday we saw pictures that make me angry that instead of talking about farmers’ problems, we say there was a riot. I will check who acted in this way, who tried to break into the Sejm. I will demand explanations from Minister Kierwiński. I would like him to tell me what information he has and who was arrested. Even if someone does not obey the law, three or four policemen overpowering a person on the ground are not images we should see. You can do it in the normal way, take him away from the crowd, he added.
Kołodziejczak announces that he will help farmers detained by the police
He also announces that if it turns out that farmers are among those detained during the strike, he will want to help them.
I know that some people are pressed against the wall, facing the prospect of falling, and that is a problem. I wouldn’t want such things to happen during farmers’ protests. So far, all agricultural protests have been peaceful, but when “Solidarity” organized them, we suddenly have a problem – he argues. – I have many signals that farmers are as angry as I am that such scenes took place. I believe that during such protests, the police should act in such a way as to provoke as little as possible, because those who come are looking for straw to provoke the other side and these are not farmers who came to solve the problem. I don’t believe that any farmer who came here with a problem would grab a paving stone and throw it towards the police, he says.
– .
