WARSAW: Disabled people who have been protesting for weeks in Poland’s parliament along with their parents will remain there during the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, an official said.
About a dozen protesters — some in wheelchairs, sleeping on mattresses on the floor — have been occupying one corridor in the parliament building since April 18 to demand higher disability allowances and more funds for medical care and rehabilitation. State support for the disabled has been very low and in most cases family members who take care of the disabled are not allowed to earn additional money.
The right-wing government has not granted all their demands and the protesters say they will keep up the sit-in.
The head of the prime minister’s office, Michal Dworczyk said late Thursday that the protest area will be sealed off during the May 25-28 spring session of hundreds of members of the NATO assembly.
He said Poland has told participants about the protest and “they have accepted the fact.”
The protest has won support from the opposition and pickets have been held in front of the parliament, leading the authorities to tighten admission rules. They have cancelled an annual Children’s Day event.
Former Polish president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech Walesa, a staunch critic of the right-wing government, plans to visit the protesters Monday.