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this stance even after it became clear that Biden had won the vote.
“Interesting. Complaints have been filed in all US states with a close outcome. The courts have not even begun to decide. Nevertheless, the #MSM [mainstream media] (and not some official body) announces the winner. Congratulations from all sides. The rule of law is [grinning face]” Jansa tweeted in the evening of November 7.
In the Western Balkans, the outcome of the US election is inextricably linked to regional politics. Trump has strong supporters in the region, particularly in Serbia and Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Serb entity Republika Srpska. As of the
evening of November 7, their leaders had not yet spoken out on the result.
Conversely, Kosovan PM Avdullah
Hoti was quick to write on Twitter:
“On behalf of the gov. of #Kosovo I extend my congrats to president elect @JoeBiden & @KamalaHarris on wining the #USAElections. I look forward to strengthening our permanent friendship with USA & continuing our work on behalf of our people & in service of our shared values.”
And Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic – who has just seen his Democratic Party of Socialists ousted by a coalition including pro-Serbian and pro-Russian parties – sent an effusive
series of tweets to Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris.
“Great victory for the American people and confirmation of how strong American democracy is! Great victory for the democratic world! Heartiest of congratulations to the president-elect @JoeBiden!” he wrote.
“Beginning of the new stage of our fruitful cooperation and continuity
of our several decades long friendship and trust. To the benefit of relations and trans-Atlantic alliance. Congratulations to #USA for organising and conducting the elections during the pandemic.”
Nationalists clash with police, vandalise Warsaw on Poland’s Independence Day
Wojciech Kosc in Warsaw
The annual Independence March
by Poland’s far-right descended into chaos on November 11, exposing the authorities’ inability to deal with the politically charged event that drew thousands, defying restrictions
to contain the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The annual Independence March has gained notoriety in recent years in Poland after having become the flagship event of the Polish far-right groups, sidelining other attempts at joyous and peaceful celebrations of Poland’s rebirth as a state after World War One in 1918.
Every recent Independence March featured far-right and fascist imagery as well as controversial sloganeering such as “Europe will be white or uninhabited” or “White Europe of Brotherly Nations”.
The main slogan of this year's march was “Our civilisation – our rules”.
The participants also bore banners reading “Normal family – strong Poland”, a reference to the nationalists’
opposition to Poland’s rising LGBT rights movement, also targeted by the government.
The march’s organisers – an association made up of a number of far-right political organisations, including the National Movement party – initially said that the event would be a motorised parade after Warsaw’s liberal mayor banned the march as breaching anti- coronavirus regulations.
The march would be an occasion to show that “we are a state or a society ... which relates to these traditional, conservative, Christian, Catholic values,” Robert Bakiewicz, one of the organisers, told government-run broadcaster TVP Info.
While the car parade did take place, the focus was on thousands that showed
up in defiance of the restrictions, with some groups attacking police. Rioters also vandalised a book store along
the march’s route and threw flares at
a building that had an LGBT flag and
a banner for Women’s Strike, a women’s
rights organisation, on display. A flat caught a short-lived fire as a result.
Police detained hundreds of people during and after the march, private radio RMF FM reported.
Poland’s right-wing government, which has occasionally pandered to the far- right, was initially reluctant to condemn the events.
“We don’t know the facts at the moment. We should look into who provoked the scuffles,” Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Glinski told private broadcaster Polsat.
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