WARSAW (Reuters) - Police early Saturday forcefully broke up an hours-long blockade of exits from the Polish parliament by protesters who said ruling party lawmakers violated the constitution by illegally passing the budget for next year.

The passage sparked the biggest political standoff in years in European Union member Poland and the sharpest escalation of the conflict between the opposition and the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party since it came to power in October 2015.

The head of the PiS party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, left parliament in the early hours of Saturday after police used force to remove protesters blocking the exit from parliament, television footage showed.

“PiS has crossed a certain line and nothing will be the same again,” Tomasz Siemoniak, deputy leader of the biggest opposition party Civic Platform told local media outside parliament.

Opposition party lawmaker Jerzy Meysztowicz told television network TVN24 that police used tear gas to disperse the protesters who tried to prevent the convoy of cars carrying Kaczynski and Prime Minister Beata Szydlo from leaving.

Warsaw police spokesman Mariusz Mrozek denied use of tear gas, but confirmed physical force was used to remove protesters.

Mrozek said the gathering before the parliament has been declared illegal starting from midnight.

By 0237 GMT, many protesters had left, but some remained. Several opposition lawmakers said they would spend the night in parliament.

CRISIS

Polish opposition parties accused PiS of violating the constitution after Speaker Marek Kuchcinski moved a key vote on next year’s budget outside of the main chamber of parliament and blocked the media from recording the vote.

It was the first time since Poland’s transition from communism in 1989 that a sitting of the lower chamber of parliament and a budget vote were held outside of the main chamber.

“The ‘sitting’ was illegal. Period. This is a constitutional crisis,” Civic Platform head Grzegorz Schetyna said on social media.

Kuchcinski transferred the sitting after opposition lawmakers occupied the parliamentary podium protesting against a plan to curb media access and Kuchcinski’s decision to exclude one opposition lawmaker.

Demonstrators hold banners "Free Parliamnent, Free Media, Free Poles" during a protest in Gdansk, Poland December 17, 2016. REUTERS/Bartosz Banka/Agencja Gazeta

PiS earlier this week announced a plan to curb access of the media to the parliament, spurring widespread protests by non-state media and the opposition amid concern the right-wing government is intent on curtailing freedom of press.

The opposition said the budget vote was illegal as it was impossible to confirm that the required number of lawmakers was present.

“There is no proof that a quorum of lawmakers was present. We suspect that people who were not allowed to vote took part,” leader of the opposition Nowoczesna party Ryszard Petru said.

Before leaving parliament, Kaczynski said the vote was legal and involved the required number of MPs. Other PiS lawmakers echoed his comments.

“What the opposition did was a scandal. And we were working,” said PiS lawmaker Jaroslaw Zielinski.

AFTERMATH

Since coming to power, PiS has passed laws that made it more difficult for the constitutional court to pass rulings, a move that led the European Commission to say democracy and rule of law were threatened in Poland.

The nationalist-minded, eurosceptic PiS party has also tightened control over public news media and state prosecution. The party has approved legislation that human rights groups said would curtail freedom of assembly.

PiS is the first party since Poland’s transition to democracy to hold an outright majority in parliament.

Civic Platform lawmakers said they had difficulties accessing the hall where PiS lawmakers voted.

“I was able to enter the hall only after pushing aside guards,” Civic Platform (PO) lawmaker Slawomir Nitras told Reuters. “The access routes to microphones were blocked by chairs.”

Direct access for media to the hall was denied, with reporters only able to observe an official camera feed.

Opposition parties Civic Platform, Nowoczesna together with the PSL party said the speaker violated the constitution and demanded parliament continue its sitting next week.

Slideshow (6 Images)

Commentators warned that further escalation of the conflict might lead to violence, like in Ukraine during anti-government protests in 2013 and 2014.

“It may lead to a nation-wide tragedy. We have to be aware of this,” former head of the constitutional court Jerzy Stepien told local media.</s>WARSAW (Reuters) - A protest by opposition lawmakers against a plan to curb media access to the Polish parliament brought the chamber to a halt and forced the postponement of a key budget vote on Friday.

Polish opposition parliamentarians protest against the rules proposed by the head office of the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, that would ban all recording of parliamentary sessions except by five selected television stations and limits the number of journalists allowed in the building, in the Parliament in Warsaw, Poland December 16, 2016. Slawomir Kaminski/Agencja Gazeta/via REUTERS

The demonstration began when a lone opposition MP ascended the parliamentary podium with a placard reading “free media” and was excluded from further debate or votes by speaker Marek Kuchcinski, who is from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party.

Other opposition members then joined MP Michal Szczerba on the podium, chanting “free media” and “no censorship”, in the first such protest in the chamber for a decade.

As their occupation continued on Friday afternoon, the head of the PiS, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, told reporters those taking part would face consequences.

“We will not be terrorized. With utmost certainty we will pass the budget,” Kaczynski said. Szczerba is from the centrist Civic Platform party, which lost power to PiS in elections in October 2015.

Rules proposed by the head office of the Sejm, the lower house, would ban all recording of parliamentary sessions except by five selected television stations and limit the number of journalists allowed in the building. They are due to take effect next year.

“This restriction, first of all, does not hit journalists, but the rights of citizens to be fully informed about what people elected by them to the parliament do,” said a statement signed by Poland’s largest independent news outlets on Friday.

Since coming to power, the PiS has tightened its control over public news media and state prosecution and moved to weaken the country’s highest court.

“I don’t believe there is anything wrong here, I don’t believe this restricts the rights of journalists,” Beata Mazurek, a spokeswoman for the party, was quoted by Polish media as saying on Thursday.

“INSPIRED BY EU”

The Sejm’s office said the proposals were partly “inspired” by how journalists were regulated in the European Parliament and other countries’ assemblies.

According to a document published on the Sejm website, 300 permanent and 200 temporary media accreditations have been issued this year, and when the Sejm is in session up to 300 daily passes are granted.

“The changes will not only increase the safety and professionalism for both journalists and politicians, but will also improve the image of Sejm and Senat (the upper house),” the document says.

“The Polish parliament has been very open to journalists for 27 years (since the first democratic election),” the leader of the opposition Polish Peasant Party, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, told Polskie Radio 24 on Friday.

“It has served the development of democracy in Poland, it has served to ask tough questions. Now, there will be one message. This is not good for the public opinion.”</s>Agnieszka Pomaska, posłanka Platformy Obywatelskiej, opublikowała w sieci nagranie z Sejmu. "Panie prezesie, jak panu nie wstyd? Co pan robi z naszym krajem?" - pyta na nim przechodzącego sejmowym korytarzem Jarosława Kaczyńskiego. Po chwili słychać trzask. Jak mówi posłanka PO, Kaczyński wyrwał jej telefon.

Od wczoraj w Sejmie sytuacja jest napięta.



Reklama

Posłowie opozycji przez kilka godzin blokowali mównicę sejmową oraz fotel marszałka podczas piątkowego posiedzenia Sejmu. Domagali się przywrócenia do udziału w obradach wykluczonego wcześniej przez marszałka posła PO Michała Szczerby, protestowali też przeciwko zmianom sejmowego regulaminu, ograniczającym pracę dziennikarzy. Posiedzenie Sejmu przeniesiono do Sali Kolumnowej, gdzie m.in. uchwalono przyszłoroczny budżet.



Przed gmachem zebrali się protestujący. Dziennikarzy wyproszono z Sejmu.

Nagranie Agnieszki Pomaski:



Protest KOD przed Sejmem 1 / 14 Protest KOD przed Sejmem Źródło: PAP Autor: Bartłomiej Zborowski udostępnij

Posiedzenie Sejmu w Sali Kolumnowej 1 / 12 Posiedzenie Sejmu w Sali Kolumnowej Źródło: PAP Autor: Tomasz Gzell udostępnij



Blokada mównicy sejmowej 1 / 14 Blokada mównicy sejmowej Źródło: PAP Autor: Marcin Obara udostępnij







</s>Police have demanded that thousands of protesters blocking the Polish parliament building in Warsaw disperse, warning that otherwise force may be used. The opposition initially blockaded the parliament building in protest at new media restrictions on covering its work.

The protests were triggered by new proposals put forward by the ruling Law and Justice party to limit media access to parliamentary debates. According to the new rules, only five TV stations will be permitted to cover the sessions. The proposal also envisaged limiting the number of reporters allowed in the premises.

The move has drawn strong criticism from independent media and opposition MPs, who attempted to block the key vote on budget by occupying the parliamentary podium in protest against what they see as a clampdown on the media.

The statement issued by Poland’s independent news outlets argued that the restrictions “do not hit journalists, but the rights of citizens to be fully informed about what people elected by them to the parliament do,” as cited by Reuters.

However, Law and Justice party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski was unmoved by the accusations, saying that the party “will not be terrorized,” as cited by TVN24, while labeling demonstrators against the rules “hooligans.”

Police forcefully pulled away protesters and reportedly used tear gas to clear the way for Kaczynski and several other senior members of parliament, who left the scene in a vehicle. Kaczynski’s car was seen leaving the building secured by a convoy together with the car of Prime Minister Beata Szydlo.

The use of tear gas was reported by opposition MP Jerzy Meysztowicz, who spoke with TVN24.

Earlier, the protesters demanded that Kaczynski personally come to listen to the crowd’s grievances.

The Civic Platform along with other opposition parties, liberal Nowsczesna (Modern) and the Polish People’s Party (PSL) issued a joint statement, accusing parliament speaker Marek Kuchcinski of violating the Constitution with his decision to hold the vote in another place.

“The [vote] was illegal, period. This is a constitutional crisis,” Grzegorz Schetyna, head of the main opposition center-right party, Civic Platform, said on Twitter.

“Everybody sees that Law and Justice has crossed a certain line and nothing will be the same anymore,” Tomasz Siemoniak, Civic Platform’s deputy leader, told journalists speaking outside the parliament’s building.

The Law and Justice party insists that moving the vote to another chamber was in line with the law and that it should be considered legally binding.



“What the opposition did was a scandal. And we were working,” Jaroslaw Zielinski, a Law and Justice party MP, told Reuters.

The hashtag #WolneMediawSejmie (Free Media in Sejm), which has become the slogan of the protesters, is trending on Polish-speaking Twitter feeds, with thousands supporting the action.

Warsaw police spokesman Mariusz Mrozek subsequently denied reports that police had deployed tear gas against protesters, claiming that what might have looked like tear gas in fact was smoke from fireworks thrown by demonstrators, according to Gazeta Wyborcza. He also said that after midnight the rally was treated by police as an illegal gathering. In the meantime, the majority of protesters left the area, with only small groups of young people remaining near the building as of early Saturday morning. Gazeta Wyborsza reported that some opposition MPs followed up on their promise to stay up all night in Parliament, refusing to recognize the decision by Kuchcinski, who they argue unlawfully interrupted the parliament’s session.

The opposition parties earlier called on the speaker to convene the parliament again on December 20, arguing that the quorum was not observed on Friday. They claim it was not clear who had actually voted as there were some people present during the voting procedure who were not MPs.

"There is no proof that a quorum of lawmakers was present. We suspect that people who were not allowed to vote took part," Reuters cited Ryszard Petru, leader of the Nowoczesna party as saying.

Earlier, it was reported that the EU Parliament might strip Poland of voting rights due to its government’s encroachment on another civil right, the freedom of assembly.

READ MORE: EU MPs debate stripping Poland of voting rights after new law restricts public meetings



The legislation, which was proposed by the ruling Law and Justice party and already passed by the Polish Senate, envisages that some rallies that the authorities deem “nationally important” can be prioritized over other rallies. The law also stipulates that any group will be entitled to “book” a place to stage “periodical” rallies for up to three years, subject to the consent of local authorities. Any other rallies, organized by other groups at that time and place would be considered illegal.

The legislation was blasted by the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and scores of non-governmental organizations. The Polish Supreme Court opposed the bill, while some 200 Polish human rights groups and NGOs called on President Andrzej Duda to impose a veto on the legislation, which is pending his approval.</s>The protest marked the biggest political standoff in years in European Union member Poland and the sharpest escalation of the conflict between the opposition and the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party since it came to power in October last year.

The police attempted in the early hours of Saturday to remove protesters by grabbing them and pulling them aside, but later ceased in their efforts as new protesters arrived at the scene, a Reuters witness said.

The police also called on protesters blocking the parliament to disperse, saying on loudspeakers that they might otherwise use force.

"Everybody sees that PiS has crossed a certain line and nothing will be the same anymore," Tomasz Siemoniak, deputy leader of the biggest opposition party Civic Platform told local media outside parliament.

The parliament was surrounded by hundreds of policemen, some of whom were carrying rubber bullet guns. Police reinforcements were arriving at the parliament as well.

The protesters chanted that lawmakers will remain blocked and called on the head of PiS, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, to come out and face them.

It was unclear how many lawmakers and staffers were inside waiting for the exits to be unblocked. Some opposition lawmakers said they would spend the night in parliament.

Polish opposition parties accused PiS earlier on Friday of violating the constitution after Speaker Marek Kuchcinski moved a key vote on next year's budget outside of the main chamber of parliament and blocked the media from recording the vote.

It was the first time since Poland's transition from communism in 1989 that a sitting of the lower chamber of parliament was conducted outside of the main chamber.

"The 'sitting' was illegal. Period. This is a constitutional crisis," Civic Platform head Grzegorz Schetyna said on social media.

Kuchcinski decided to transfer the sitting and the budget vote outside the main chamber after opposition lawmakers occupied the parliamentary podium protesting against a plan to curb media access and against Kuchcinski's decision to exclude one lawmaker.

Ruling party lawmakers said the transfer of the vote was legal and the vote itself was valid.

"What the opposition did was a scandal. And we were working," said PiS lawmaker Jaroslaw Zielinski, who took part in the budget vote.

Opposition parties Civic Platform and Nowoczesna together with the PSL party said in a statement that the speaker has violated the constitution. Opposition lawmakers also said they had problems in accessing the budget vote.

The parties demanded that the parliament sitting be held once again next week.

Since coming to power last year, the nationalist-minded, eurosceptic PiS has tightened its control over public news media and state prosecution and moved to weaken the country's highest court.

PiS is the first party since Poland's transition to democracy to hold an outright majority in parliament. (Writing Marcin Goettig; Editing by Mary Milliken)</s>Polish opposition leaders called on Saturday for days of anti-government protests and vowed to maintain a blockade of parliament’s main hall that the ruling party condemned as an illegal attempt to seize power.

About two dozen members of the opposition Civic Platform (PO) took turns to sit in the legislature’s plenary hall through the night and the party’s leader said they would remain there for the next few days.

“We will be on the streets until they are done destroying the country,” Mateusz Kijowski, the leader of the Committee for the Defence of Democracy movement, told protesters.

Several thousand people protested in Warsaw and other cities after police broke up a blockade of the entrances of the parliament building in Warsaw in the early hours.

Poland’s biggest political standoff in years began on Friday when opposition lawmakers objecting to plans by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party to curb media access to parliament blocked the plenary hall podium ahead of a budget vote.

PiS lawmakers later moved voting to another area without media access, prompting accusations they had passed the 2017 budget illegally, breaching the constitution.

The clash with the opposition has highlighted a growing divide in eastern Europe’s largest economy, with some Poles increasingly angry over the PiS government’s efforts to assert more control over state institutions.

“If it becomes clear that it is impossible to talk to (PiS lawmakers), we should have early elections,” Ryszard Petru, head of the liberal Nowoczesna grouping, told protesters at parliament.

A snap election is unlikely, however, as PiS holds an outright majority in parliament and would be able to overrule any vote of no confidence.

Poland’s Western allies have also expressed concerns over a push by the government to reform the constitutional court, saying it contravened democratic standards.

But despite criticism at home and abroad, the euroskeptic PiS enjoys steady support among many Poles eager to hear its message of higher welfare, more Catholic values in public life and less dependence on foreign capital.

European Union Council President Donald Tusk, former head of the PO – Poland’s largest opposition party – urged authorities to respect the constitution and warned about the risks of disregarding “the European model of democracy.”

“I appeal to those who have real power to respect and regard the people, constitutional principles and morals,” Tusk, who has a long-standing feud with PiS head Jaroslaw Kaczynski, told a cultural conference in Poland’s western city of Wroclaw.

“Those who undermine the European model of democracy, attack the constitution and good customs, expose all of us to strategic risks. By throwing away the spirit of freedom and community, they write the next act of Poland’s solitude,” he added.

Government officials deny behaving undemocratically and have accused opposition leaders of fomenting dissent.

Interior Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said the opposition blockade of parliament was an “illegal attempt to seize power,” while Prime Minister Beata Szydlo accused opposition lawmakers of being focused on “brawls”.

Later in the day, however, Kaczynski told the speaker of the upper house of parliament to organize a meeting with media outlets on Sunday to discuss the new plan for journalists’ access, PAP news agency reported, citing government sources.

Meanwhile, Polish President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, called on all sides to calm down. “I am ready to mediate in this matter,” he said in a statement.

A Reuters correspondent in Warsaw and other journalists were not allowed to enter parliament on Saturday, which PO leader Grzegorz Schetyna called unacceptable.

“Parliament cannot be governed by censorship,” he told a news conference. “It cannot be without journalists.”</s>Warsaw, Poland (CNN) A bitter political crisis in Poland worsened over the weekend with heated protests both in and outside the nation's parliament and a swirl of allegations of attempted coups and threats to democracy.

In Poland's lower house of parliament, opposition lawmakers formed a phalanx around the podium, effectively halting proceedings in the chamber in protest over an alleged government attack on press freedoms.

Outside, in freezing temperatures, angry anti-government demonstrators besieged the parliament, preventing politicians from the ruling Law and Justice party from leaving, before police dragged them off the roads.

"In my opinion, yesterday's events were an illegal attempt to seize power," Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said Saturday morning, in reference to the protests in parliament.

Addressing the nation in televised statement Saturday evening, Prime Minister Beata Szydlo placed the blame at the door of her opponents.

"The move by the opposition to ignite extreme political emotions ... has nothing to do with the actual condition of the country," she said. "On the contrary, it is due to the helplessness, the frustration, of those who have lost the power and who have no idea how to convince Poles of their views."

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the president of the governing party who is regarded as the man with the real power in Polish politics, said Saturday, "We must not let others terrorize us."

He also spoke of "drawing our conclusions about those who have abused their office," which some have interpreted as veiled threat to the opposition members of parliament who took part in the protest.

The spark for the parliamentary unrest was a government plan to limit media access to the Polish Parliament. Since the country's return to democracy 27 years ago, journalists have had almost unrestricted access to the corridors of power, catching politicians unaware and harassing them with questions.

To many in Poland, this access was regarded as a fine example of Polish democracy -- but to the country's government, which has never had an easy relationship with the media, it was an unwanted privilege that the press, they claimed, had abused. To solve the problem, the government proposed slashing the number of journalists with parliamentary accreditation and creating a media center where politicians could meet the press on their own terms.

This triggered outrage in the Polish media and prompted accusations that the government was trying to silence the press.

It also led to the protests in the parliament by opposition lawmakers that, in turn, led to the parliamentary speaker hastily arranging a meeting of Law and Justice politicians in another room, where they then voted through next year's state budget with a show of hands.

The informal nature of the vote sparked claims from opposition lawmakers that they had been prevented from attending the meeting. It also drew prompt condemnation from furious opposition leaders who claimed having a parliamentary vote outside the chamber was both illegal and a violation of the Polish constitution.

Grzegorz Schetyna, leader of Civic Platform, Poland's main opposition party, said Saturday he had reported the vote to the Warsaw prosecutor's office, saying that "all those who broke the law should answer for it."

It was also the first time since Poland shed communist rule in 1989 that a parliamentary sitting had been held outside the chamber of the lower house.

The political fighting over media access and the budget vote is the latest controversy to hit the Polish government. Since coming into power a little more than a year ago, the socially conservative Law and Justice government has launched root-and-branch overhauls of the country's highest court, publically run media, the armed forces and the civil service in a campaign it claims is necessary to modernize the institutions and rid them of bias and corruption.

But to its critics, the campaign's real goal is to undermine the basic principles of democracy and try to turn the Central European country into a one-party state once again. The policies have also deepened and widened a bitter political divide in Poland that, at the moment, appears beyond any hope of reconciliation.

Protesters have vowed to take to the streets again to keep the pressure on the government.

"We will be on the streets until they are done destroying the country," Mateusz Kijowski, the leader of the Committee for the Defense of Democracy -- the movement that has spearheaded protests since Law and Justice came to power -- told demonstrators Saturday.

But while the government's opponents were quick to claim that the events of Friday and Saturday morning were a turning point in Polish politics, how they will affect the government is unclear. Since coming to power, Law and Justice has come under an almost constant bombardment of criticism over its apparent lack of commitment to democratic rights but at the same time has retained its popularity.

Generous social welfare programs and promises to clamp down on corruption and look after the people left behind by the country's economic progress have appealed to many Poles, giving Law and Justice a powerful position.

The party also enjoys an outright majority in the Polish parliament, so it is free to do what it wants and enact any legislation it deems necessary.</s>WARSAW, Poland (AP) — European Council President Donald Tusk on Saturday urged Poland's ruling party to respect the country's constitution, its people and democratic practices in politics as two days of anti-government protests spread from Warsaw to two other cities.

Government opponents protested outside the presidential palace and the parliament building for a second day Saturday over a government plan to restrict journalists' access to lawmakers in parliament.

The protests came amid rising political tensions over the ruling conservative Law and Justice party's policies under chairman Jaroslaw Kaczynski and followed a large spontaneous demonstration Friday outside parliament.

Tusk, Poland's former prime minister, invoked the word "dictatorship" and reminded his audience of protests held in Poland under communism that ended in bloodshed.

"I appeal to those who hold real power in our country to respect the people, the principles and values of the constitution, the standing procedures and good practices," Tusk said in Wroclaw, southwest Poland, where he was attending a cultural event.

He warned that whoever was undermining the "European model of democracy" in Poland was "exposing us all to strategic risks."

The crowd of a few thousand in Warsaw chanted "Freedom! Equality! Democracy!" and waved Polish and European Union flags, a reflection of the pro-European views of many liberal, urban Poles who oppose the ruling party.

"This conflict is entering a new, more aggressive phase," said Szymon Roginski, a photographer who joined the protest with his two young sons. "Every day we hear news that makes us understand that we are further and further away from democracy. People have had enough."

President Andrzej Duda, who is allied with the ruling party, expressed deep concern and declared a readiness to mediate in the dispute. Prime Minister Beata Szydlo was to make a televised address later Saturday night.

The ruling party, which has increased welfare spending, still remains popular with many Poles, particularly those outside of the cities and on modest incomes.

Some protesters Saturday held up copies of the constitution. They also chanted "Solidarity!" reflecting how many link today's protests to the anti-communist opposition of the past. A large police presence guarded the Parliament building.

The protests were organized by the civic group Committee for the Defense of Democracy and two opposition parties, Civic Platform and Modern. Ryszard Petru, head of Modern, told the crowd in Warsaw that Poles would not accept the "dictators" who are trying to restrict the access of journalists to parliament.

In the biggest parliamentary crisis in years, opposition lawmakers protested that government plan Friday, blocking a vote on the budget. Governing party members then voted in another hall, but the opposition says the vote was flawed and illegal.

Opposition lawmakers are now demanding a repeat vote on Tuesday and some are occupying the session hall to demand that.

Kaczynski on Saturday sought a meeting with media representatives. On Friday he called the obstruction of parliament "hooliganism" and threatened protesters with consequences.</s>In the early hours of Saturday, police had forcefully broken up a blockade of exits from the legislature's building in central Warsaw, set up by protesters who said ruling party lawmakers had violated the constitution by illegally passing the 2017 budget law on Friday.

A spokesman for the Civil Platform (PO) party, the largest opposition grouping in parliament, said about 20-30 members of the party had been taking turns to sit in the plenary hall.

"The whole PO parliamentary club is in the Sejm," Jan Grabiec told Reuters.

About 30 protesters remained in front of the Sejm, according to a Reuters correspondent.

The crisis started on Friday when opposition lawmakers protested against plans by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party to curb media access to the parliament, by blocking access to the plenary hall podium ahead of the budget vote.

The budget passed with voting taking place in a nearby hall, escalating the conflict between the opposition and PiS, which within a year of assuming power extended its authority by tightening control over public media and weakening the country's highest court.

"In my opinion, yesterday's events were an illegal attempt to seize power," Blaszczak told RMF FM private radio.

Ryszard Petru, leader of the opposition Nowoczesna party, said the next protest was planned for 1100 GMT in front of the Presidential Palace, in Warsaw's center.

"If the situation which is taking place, in which ... PiS has lost the trust of the people, if the situation continues, early elections will be necessary," Petru told the TVN 24 private news channel. (Reporting by Pawel Florkiewicz, Pawel Sobczak and Justyna Pawlak; Writing by Justyna Pawlak and Lidia Kelly; Editing by Dale Hudson)</s>WARSAW, Poland — Thousands of Warsaw residents joined in a spontaneous protest in front of Poland's parliament against a plan by the conservative ruling party to limit reporters' access to legislators.

Mobilized by the civic movement, the Committee for the Defense of Democracy, or KOD, the crowd on Friday waved white-and-red national flags and chanted "Free media!" in cold winter weather.

Radek Sikorski, a former foreign minister, was among the government critics who addressed the protest, harshly denouncing Poland's political direction under Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the powerful chairman of the ruling Law and Justice party that is introducing many sweeping changes.

Earlier Friday, inside the parliament's session hall, a large group of liberal opposition lawmakers protested the new media rules by standing on and around the speaker's podium for several hours. They blocked a vote on the 2017 state budget.

The budget vote was eventually taken by the ruling party's lawmakers in another hall, but the opposition questioned its legality. It was the most serious crisis in Poland's parliament in many years.

"The political crisis has grown more aggravated," Law and Justice lawmaker Tadeusz Cymanski said.

The crowd blocked lawmakers' cars, preventing them from leaving the parliament area. After a few hours, police had to make way for them, as the crowd chanted "We will win!" A new protest was called for Saturday noon in front of the Presidential Palace.

At the heart of the issue was free access to information.

In the 27 years of Poland's democracy, journalists have been a constant presence in the parliament's halls. Banned from the main assembly room, they can grab politicians for interviews in the halls.

The ruling party, which is under European Union scrutiny for policies deemed anti-democratic by opponents, plans new rules starting Jan. 1 that would drastically limit reporters' access in parliament.

Ruling party leader Kaczynski denounced the obstruction of parliament as "hooliganism" and threatened protesters with consequences.

"We will not allow ourselves to be terrorized," he said.

He said the proposed changes to media access are no different from those in many other European nations. Respected journalist Seweryn Blumsztajn, a dissident under communism, called the plan a "return to communist-era practices."

Monika Olejnik of TVN acknowledged that journalists have gone too far sometimes, such as trying to accost politicians heading to the toilet. But she, too, denounced the planned new rules, saying ruling party lawmakers want "to protect themselves from uncomfortable questions by journalists."

"But this is in violation of the constitution and of parliament rules," Olejnik said.
Crowds blocked all Polish parliament exits protesting the Polish ruling Law and Justice Party's allegedly illegal 2017 budget that was approved in a vote outside of the assembly's main chamber. Earlier, the opposition Civic Platform Party stopped parliamentary proceedings on the budget because of new rules on media access. Police have beaten several protesters. According to opposition Civic Platform MP Agnieszka Pomaska, ruling party Law and Justice leader Jarosław Kaczyński snatched her phone.