In tears and shock, Poland bids farewell to murdered mayor

Poles gathered yesterday in the Baltic port city of Gdansk to bid an emotional farewell to murdered liberal mayor Pawel Adamowicz, whose public stabbing has raised questions about hate speech in politics in the country.

Around 3,500 people, including President Andrzej Duda and EU Council President Donald Tusk, a longtime friend of Adamowicz, attended the ceremony at St Mary’s Church, one of the largest brick churches in the world, where his casket will be permanently located.

Polish Nobel Peace laureate Lech Walesa also attended the ceremony, being held on what Duda has declared a day of national mourning. Adamowicz, 53, was stabbed in the heart in front of hundreds of people at a charity fundraiser last weekend by an ex-convict wielding a knife.

“It’s a sad day for the people of Gdansk. We feel we have lost a father,” said Tomasz Ceglinski. “Every year, we saw changes in the city: investments, new roads, shopping centres and cultural institutions all thanks to him. It’s my duty to be here,” he told AFP. The mayor’s 27-year-old attacker, who reportedly has a history of mental illness, had previously been sentenced to more than five years in jail for armed robbery.

Recently released, the man claimed he was wrongly imprisoned by the previous government -- led by the centrist Civic Platform (PO) party, to which Adamowicz once belonged. For many Poles, the mayor’s murder was fuelled by online hate speech and toxic divisions between the main political parties.