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Central Europe
January 18, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 14
Poland reels as Gdansk mayor dies after stabbing
Wojciech Kosc in Warsaw
Mayor of Gdansk Pawel Adamowicz died on January 14 after he was stabbed at a charity event he had attended the night before.
The assassination has sent shock waves across Poland with thousands taking part in vigils to mourn the killed mayor. The evidence currently points to the attack having been carried out by a former convict, reportedly with a history of mental health problems, who claimed he was put in prison and "tortured" by Civic Platform, Poland's liberal opposition party and Adamowicz's former political grouping.
It is possible, however, that Poland's polarised politics might have imprinted on the perpetrator an urge to act. The state-run television TVP frequently suggested Adamowicz was dishonest,
if not corrupt.
The general public's perception that there was a political motive behind the assassination of
a popular public figure is likely to stoke tension further in an already divided nation, anxiously awaiting what 2019 will bring.
Poland is facing double elections this year. Poles will elect their members of the European Parliament in May and vote on whether to keep the incumbent government of Law and Justice (PiS) in office in the national vote in autumn.
Adamowicz was onstage in Gdansk addressing the crowd that gathered to celebrate the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (WOSP), a nationwide fundraiser to buy hospital equipment for children’s care.
The attacker walked up to Adamowicz undisturbed and stabbed him a number of times, causing several wounds, including a serious heart wound. Adamowicz was resuscitated immediately and rushed to hospital where he underwent a five- hour emergency operation and was put on life support. His condition did not improve, however, and he died the following day.
The attacker was later identified as a Gdansk resident who had recently left prison after completing a jail term for four armed bank robberies in 2013.
After he stabbed Adamowicz, the attacker managed to seize a microphone from one of the event's staffers.
“I was innocently jailed, Civic Platform [Adamowicz’s former party] tortured me, that’s why Adamowicz had to die,” the attacker shouted, having stood unchallenged on the stage for what witnesses described as an excruciatingly long
30 to even 60 seconds. Two security officers
only showed up after a technician grounded the attacker.
Despite early appeals from political leaders
not to politicise the assassination of the
popular mayor, who had been in office since
1998 and won another term last year, the odds appear increasingly in favour of ever-deeper fault lines to divide Poland in an election year.
The media, politicians, and commentators leaning to either of the main sides of the political debate