More than 100,000 Poles demonstrated on Sunday in support of European Union membership after a court ruling that parts of EU law are incompatible with the constitution raised concerns the country could eventually leave the bloc.
Politicians across Europe voiced dismay at the ruling by Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal on Thursday, which they saw as undercutting the legal pillar on which the 27-nation EU stands.
According to the organisers, protests took place in over 100 towns and cities across Poland and several cities abroad, with 80,000-100,000 people gathering in the capital Warsaw alone, waving Polish and EU flags and shouting “We are staying”.
Donald Tusk, a former head of the European Council and now leader of the main opposition party Civic Platform, said the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party’s policies were jeopardising Poland’s future in Europe.
“We know why they want to leave (the EU) … so that they can violate democratic rules with impunity,” he said, speaking in front of Warsaw’s Royal Castle, surrounded by thousands of protesters flanked by police vans flashing their lights.
PiS says it has no plans for a “Polexit”.
But right-wing populist governments in Poland and Hungary have found themselves increasingly at odds with the European Commission over issues ranging from LGBT rights to judicial independence.
“Just as Brexit suddenly became a fact, something no-one expected, the same thing can happen here,” said Janusz Kuczynski, 59, standing in a street in Warsaw’s historic district leading up to the Royal Castle.
Welcoming the court ruling on Thursday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said each member state must be treated with respect and the EU should not be only “a grouping of those who are equal and more equal”.
READ MORE: EU erupts in fury at Poland as Polexit fears boil over
Tweeting in support of the protests, Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt said: “Warsaw’s ready to march.
“Poland’s ready to defend European values and EU membership.
“When choices are clear and important people know all too well the EU is on their side.”
France and Germany said in a joint statement that Poland had a legal and moral obligation to abide by the bloc’s rules completely and unconditionally.
On Saturday, the Polish foreign ministry said Poland respects binding international law.
“All obligations arising from both primary and secondary European Union law remain in force and thus, will continue to be fully respected by Poland,” it said in a statement.
“The provisions of the Treaty of the European Union indicated in the judgment …remain in force.
“What cannot be accepted are only the forms of their interpretation or application that violate the constitution.”