2023 Polish protests

2023 Polish protests
People marching through the streets of Warsaw as part of the protests held on 4 June 2023.
Date	June 4, 2023 – October 1, 2023
Location	Warsaw and other areas of Poland[1]
Caused by	Democratic backsliding Erosion of civil liberties[2] Alleged suppression of opposition parties[3][4] Drift-away from the European Union[2] Economic crisis, high inflation[2] Perceived misuse of funds and poor planning for infrastructure[5]
Goals	Democratization Anti-corruption Free elections Cancellation of the "Lex Tusk" law Pro-Europeanism[2]
Parties
Pro-democracy protestors Civic Platform KOD[6] Supported by: League of Polish Families[7][8] AGROunia[9] New Left[10] TVN Group[11] Newsweek Polska[12] Gazeta Wyborcza[13] Polish government Law and Justice Counterprotestors Supported by: Telewizja Polska[14]
Lead figures
Donald Tusk[2] Rafał Trzaskowski[2] Lech Wałęsa[2] Andrzej Duda[2] Mateusz Morawiecki[2] Jarosław Kaczyński[2]
Number
June 4: Nationwide: 1,000,000+ protestors[15] Warsaw: 500,000+ protestors[2][16] June 16: Poznań: 50,000+ protestors[17] June 24: Wrocław: 50,000+ protestors[18]

On June 4, 2023, a series of anti-government protests took place in several areas of Poland, with the main one being held in the capital city of Warsaw. The protests were sparked by the passing of the bill commonly referred to as "Lex Tusk", which critics argued would disrupt the constitutional separation of powers by giving the ruling party of PiS excessive judicial oversight. The Polish opposition in the national Parliament, as well as numerous foreign commentators, considered the law's approval an extension of the perceived constitutional crisis under the presidency of Andrzej Duda and the government headed by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

On 1 October 2023, the "March of a Million Hearts" took place in Warsaw.