WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party marked on Tuesday the end of monthly rallies commemorating the 2010 plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski, hoping to ease social tensions before a series of elections.

 The marches became an opportunity for PiS to fan emotions that drive many of its conservative supporters: distrust of foreigners, patriotism infused with Catholic piety and anger that Poland's economic success is not more evenly shared.

 But opposition critics accused PiS of using them to foment divisions in Poland and the party, whose opinion poll ratings haven fallen sharply, decided that Tuesday's official gathering on the eighth anniversary of the disaster would be the last.

 "We want Poles to be united, but united around good, not evil. We want a strong Poland, a just Poland, a Poland which is being listened to," PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Lech's twin, told supporters in Warsaw during a ceremony to unveil a monument to the victims.

 The crash in thick fog near the Russian city of Smolensk shook Poland to the core: the 96 dead included top army brass, the central bank chief and lawmakers from across the political spectrum, as well as Lech Kaczynski, a PiS founder.

 At the time Jaroslaw Kaczynski accused the then prime minister Donald Tusk - a centrist who is now European Council president - of being indirectly responsible for the crash, caused, in his view, at least partially by government negligence.

 Since PiS came to power in 2015, Kaczynski's eurosceptic message has resonated with many voters, despite international accusations that the party is moving towards authoritarianism.

 But its support has eroded in recent weeks amid a public outcry over financial bonuses for the government, protests over plans to tighten abortion rules and a clash with the United States and Israel over Holocaust remembrance.

 Hundreds of police have guarded the marches in recent months, with sections of a main Warsaw thoroughfare closed off, and public spending on protection quadrupled as liberal activists staged counter-protests.

 PiS also appears to have slowed efforts to find evidence of Russian meddling in the crash, something Kaczynski has suggested in the past, even though a government investigation into the tragedy had returned pilot error as its cause.

 The party is trying to rally support before local elections this year, a European Parliament vote next spring and parliamentary elections later in 2019, followed by a presidential poll in 2020.

 "The (rallies) make PiS appear divisive," said Anna Materska-Sosnowska, a political scientist at Warsaw University. "They've become grotesque."

 

 (Editing by David Stamp)</s>WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland is marking the eighth anniversary of a plane crash in Russia that killed President Lech Kaczynski, the first lady and many other political and military leaders, the worst tragedy to befall the nation in decades.

The ruling party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is the president’s surviving twin brother, paid tribute to the 96 victims in a solemn ceremony Tuesday in Warsaw that began at 8.41 a.m., the exact time of the crash on April 10, 2010, near the Smolensk airport.

The victims’ names were read out in an emotional ceremony held in front of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, once home to the late president.

Other ceremonies include the unveiling of a massive stone memorial to the victims in a central Warsaw square.</s>WARSAW, Poland — Poland is marking the eighth anniversary of a plane crash in Russia that killed President Lech Kaczynski, the first lady and many other political and military leaders, the worst tragedy to befall the nation in decades.

The ruling party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is the president’s surviving twin brother, paid tribute to the 96 victims in a solemn ceremony Tuesday in Warsaw that began at 8.41 a.m., the exact time of the crash on April 10, 2010, near the Smolensk airport.

The victims’ names were read out in an emotional ceremony held in front of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, once home to the late president.

Other ceremonies include the unveiling of a massive stone memorial to the victims in a central Warsaw square.</s>Poland's President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday demanded that Russia hand over the wreckage of a 2010 presidential plane crash that has stoked friction with Moscow and divisions at home as Warsaw marked eight years since the disaster.

President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria were among the 96 people who died in the crash in Smolensk, western Russia, on April 10, 2010.

"The plane wreckage is probably the most important evidence in this case -- it's still in Russia and the Russian authorities don't want to hand it over," Duda told Polish media.

"One can only ask why the Russians don't want to return the wreck," he added, after laying floral tributes on the graves of Kaczynski and his wife in the southern Polish city of Krakow.

Warsaw has repeatedly asked Moscow to hand over the wreckage and black boxes, but each time Russia has said it will only do so when its own inquiry is finished.

Ties have been strained since the crash as well as Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, which prompted the EU to impose sanctions against Russia.

The plane crash occurred as the Polish delegation was heading to a ceremony in Russia's Katyn forest in memory of thousands of Polish army officers killed by Soviet secret police in 1940 -- a massacre the Kremlin denied until 1990.

Poland's governing rightwing Law and Justice (PiS) party, led by Kaczynski's twin brother Jaroslaw, has long insisted the crash was no accident.

The previous liberal government blamed bad weather and errors by the Polish pilots and two Russian air traffic controllers.

In 2015, Polish prosecutors charged the former with "being directly responsible for having endangered air traffic" and the latter with "unintentionally causing an air traffic disaster".

Having rejected the conclusions of the earlier investigation as a cover-up, the PiS government launched its own probe using new investigators.

They suggested last year that an explosion was likely to have caused the aircraft to break up in the air.

Polish justice officials have also exhumed the remains of the victims to test for traces of explosives or combustion.

Some 57 percent of Poles believe the crash was an accident, while 20 percent think it was an attack, according to a Pollster survey published Tuesday by the Super Express tabloid daily. Twenty-three percent have no opinion.

EU President Donald Tusk, who served as Poland's prime minister at the time of the crash, is due in Warsaw later this month for questioning by prosecutors.

The liberal Tusk, who is an archrival of PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, alleged he was being politically targeted by investigators following a marathon eight hours of questioning in last August.

Senior PiS politicians have accused him of "diplomatic treason" in connection with the previous investigation.</s>WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Poland is marking the eighth anniversary of a plane crash in Russia that killed President Lech Kaczynski, the first lady and many other political and military leaders, the worst tragedy to befall the nation in decades.

The ruling party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is the president's surviving twin brother, paid tribute to the 96 victims in a solemn ceremony Tuesday in Warsaw that began at 8.41 a.m., the exact time of the crash on April 10, 2010, near the Smolensk airport.

The victims' names were read out in an emotional ceremony held in front of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, once home to the late president.

The leader of the ruling Law and Justice party Jaroslaw Kaczynski, left, attends a ceremony marking the eighth anniversary of the crash of the Polish government plane that killed Poland's President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others, outside the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, April 10, 2018. (AP Photo)

Other ceremonies include the unveiling of a massive stone memorial to the victims in a central Warsaw square.

The leader of the ruling Law and Justice party Jaroslaw Kaczynski, left, attends a ceremony marking the eighth anniversary of the crash of the Polish government plane that killed Poland's President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others, outside the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, April 10, 2018. (AP Photo)

The leader of the ruling Law and Justice party Jaroslaw Kaczynski, left, attends a ceremony marking the eighth anniversary of the crash of the Polish government plane that killed Poland's President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others, outside the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, April 10, 2018. (AP Photo)</s>Poland’s President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday demanded that Russia hand over the wreckage of a 2010 presidential plane crash that has stoked friction with Moscow and divisions at home as Warsaw marked eight years since the disaster.

President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria were among the 96 people who died in the crash in Smolensk, western Russia, on April 10, 2010.

“The plane wreckage is probably the most important evidence in this case — it’s still in Russia and the Russian authorities don’t want to hand it over,” Duda told Polish media.

“One can only ask why the Russians don’t want to return the wreck,” he added, after laying floral tributes on the graves of Kaczynski and his wife in the southern Polish city of Krakow.

Warsaw has repeatedly asked Moscow to hand over the wreckage and black boxes, but each time Russia has said it will only do so when its own inquiry is finished.

Ties have been strained since the crash as well as Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, which prompted the EU to impose sanctions against Russia.

The plane crash occurred as the Polish delegation was heading to a ceremony in Russia’s Katyn forest in memory of thousands of Polish army officers killed by Soviet secret police in 1940 — a massacre the Kremlin denied until 1990.

Poland’s governing rightwing Law and Justice (PiS) party, led by Kaczynski’s twin brother Jaroslaw, has long insisted the crash was no accident.

The previous liberal government blamed bad weather and errors by the Polish pilots and two Russian air traffic controllers.

In 2015, Polish prosecutors charged the former with “being directly responsible for having endangered air traffic” and the latter with “unintentionally causing an air traffic disaster”.

Having rejected the conclusions of the earlier investigation as a cover-up, the PiS government launched its own probe using new investigators.

They suggested last year that an explosion was likely to have caused the aircraft to break up in the air.

Polish justice officials have also exhumed the remains of the victims to test for traces of explosives or combustion.

Some 57 percent of Poles believe the crash was an accident, while 20 percent think it was an attack, according to a Pollster survey published Tuesday by the Super Express tabloid daily. Twenty-three percent have no opinion.

EU President Donald Tusk, who served as Poland’s prime minister at the time of the crash, is due in Warsaw later this month for questioning by prosecutors.

The liberal Tusk, who is an archrival of PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, alleged he was being politically targeted by investigators following a marathon eight hours of questioning in last August.

Senior PiS politicians have accused him of “diplomatic treason” in connection with the previous investigation.</s>Warsaw (AFP) - Poland's President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday demanded that Russia hand over the wreckage of a 2010 presidential plane crash that has stoked friction with Moscow and divisions at home as Warsaw marked eight years since the disaster.

President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria were among the 96 people who died in the crash in Smolensk, western Russia, on April 10, 2010.

Poland's governing rightwing Law and Justice (PiS) party, led by Kaczynski's twin brother Jaroslaw, has long insisted the crash was no accident, with a new probe suggesting it was triggered by an explosion.

The previous liberal government blamed bad weather and errors by the Polish pilots and two Russian air traffic controllers for the crash, regarded by some as Poland's worst post-war disaster.

"The plane wreckage is probably the most important evidence in this case -- it's still in Russia and the Russian authorities don't want to hand it over," Duda told Polish media.

"One can only ask why the Russians don't want to return the wreck," he added, after laying floral tributes on the graves of Kaczynski and his wife in the southern Polish city of Krakow.

Warsaw has repeatedly asked Moscow to hand over the wreckage and black boxes, but each time Russia has said it will only do so when its own inquiry is finished.

Ties have been strained since the crash, and also since Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, as well as the recent spy poisoning row that prompted a string of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions between Russia and the West.

Later on Tuesday, Duda called for unity among Poles as he unveiled a controversial monument to the victims of the crash in the capital Warsaw.

"I believe that this monument will unite us, regardless of our views, regardless of political stripes or beliefs; it belongs to everyone and is for everyone," Duda told several thousand people gathered in the square for the unveiling.

Known for his highly divisive us-against-them brand of politics, Jaroslaw Kaczynski used the ceremonies to call for "the unity of all Poles" at a time when the opinion poll ratings of his governing PiS party are plunging, amid public outcry over generous bonuses for its ministers.

The monument's location on an historic central Warsaw square adjacent to Poland's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has also triggered tensions, and a thick cordon of police blocked protesters in a nearby park as the monument was unveiled.

The triangular black granite monument resembling the tail wing of an airplane as well as airplane stairs is inscribed with the names of the crash victims.

They include senior Polish statesmen and politicians of various stripes who had been heading to a ceremony in Russia's Katyn forest in memory of thousands of Polish army officers killed by Soviet secret police in 1940 -- a massacre the Kremlin denied until 1990.

Poles are divided over the causes behind the crash.

Some 57 percent of believe it was an accident, while 20 percent think it was an attack, according to a survey published Tuesday by the Super Express tabloid daily. Twenty-three percent have no opinion.

In 2015, Polish prosecutors charged one of the Russian air traffic controllers with "being directly responsible for having endangered air traffic" and the other with "unintentionally causing an air traffic disaster".

Having rejected as a cover-up the conclusions of the earlier investigation that put the blame on human error and bad weather, the PiS government launched its own probe using new investigators.

They suggested last year that an explosion was likely to have caused the aircraft to break up in the air.

Polish justice officials have also exhumed the remains of the victims to test for traces of explosives or combustion.

A defence ministry sub-committee is due to present the partial findings of the new probe on Wednesday in Warsaw.</s>Poland is marking the eighth anniversary of a plane crash in Russia that killed President Lech Kaczynski, the first lady and many other political and military leaders, the worst tragedy to befall the nation in decades.

The ruling party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is the president's surviving twin brother, paid tribute to the 96 victims in a solemn ceremony Tuesday in Warsaw that began at 8.41 a.m., the exact time of the crash on April 10, 2010, near the Smolensk airport.

The victims' names were read out in an emotional ceremony held in front of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, once home to the late president.

Other ceremonies include the unveiling of a massive stone memorial to the victims in a central Warsaw square.</s>Celebrations of the eighth anniversary of the crash of the Polish government plane Thomson Reuters By Marcin Goclowski

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party marked on Tuesday the end of monthly rallies commemorating the 2010 plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski, hoping to ease social tensions before a series of elections.

The marches became an opportunity for PiS to fan emotions that drive many of its conservative supporters: distrust of foreigners, patriotism infused with Catholic piety and anger that Poland's economic success is not more evenly shared.

But opposition critics accused PiS of using them to foment divisions in Poland and the party, whose opinion poll ratings haven fallen sharply, decided that Tuesday's official gathering on the eighth anniversary of the disaster would be the last.

"We want Poles to be united, but united around good, not evil. We want a strong Poland, a just Poland, a Poland which is being listened to," PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Lech's twin, told supporters in Warsaw during a ceremony to unveil a monument to the victims.

The crash in thick fog near the Russian city of Smolensk shook Poland to the core: the 96 dead included top army brass, the central bank chief and lawmakers from across the political spectrum, as well as Lech Kaczynski, a PiS founder.

At the time Jaroslaw Kaczynski accused the then prime minister Donald Tusk - a centrist who is now European Council president - of being indirectly responsible for the crash, caused, in his view, at least partially by government negligence.

Since PiS came to power in 2015, Kaczynski's eurosceptic message has resonated with many voters, despite international accusations that the party is moving towards authoritarianism.

But its support has eroded in recent weeks amid a public outcry over financial bonuses for the government, protests over plans to tighten abortion rules and a clash with the United States and Israel over Holocaust remembrance.

Hundreds of police have guarded the marches in recent months, with sections of a main Warsaw thoroughfare closed off, and public spending on protection quadrupled as liberal activists staged counter-protests.

PiS also appears to have slowed efforts to find evidence of Russian meddling in the crash, something Kaczynski has suggested in the past, even though a government investigation into the tragedy had returned pilot error as its cause.

The party is trying to rally support before local elections this year, a European Parliament vote next spring and parliamentary elections later in 2019, followed by a presidential poll in 2020.

"The (rallies) make PiS appear divisive," said Anna Materska-Sosnowska, a political scientist at Warsaw University. "They've become grotesque."</s>WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party marked on Tuesday the end of monthly rallies commemorating the 2010 plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski, hoping to ease social tensions before a series of elections.

The marches became an opportunity for PiS to fan emotions that drive many of its conservative supporters: distrust of foreigners, patriotism infused with Catholic piety and anger that Poland’s economic success is not more evenly shared.

But opposition critics accused PiS of using them to foment divisions in Poland and the party, whose opinion poll ratings haven fallen sharply, decided that Tuesday’s official gathering on the eighth anniversary of the disaster would be the last.

“We want Poles to be united, but united around good, not evil. We want a strong Poland, a just Poland, a Poland which is being listened to,” PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Lech’s twin, told supporters in Warsaw during a ceremony to unveil a monument to the victims.

The crash in thick fog near the Russian city of Smolensk shook Poland to the core: the 96 dead included top army brass, the central bank chief and lawmakers from across the political spectrum, as well as Lech Kaczynski, a PiS founder.

At the time Jaroslaw Kaczynski accused the then prime minister Donald Tusk - a centrist who is now European Council president - of being indirectly responsible for the crash, caused, in his view, at least partially by government negligence.

Since PiS came to power in 2015, Kaczynski’s eurosceptic message has resonated with many voters, despite international accusations that the party is moving towards authoritarianism.

But its support has eroded in recent weeks amid a public outcry over financial bonuses for the government, protests over plans to tighten abortion rules and a clash with the United States and Israel over Holocaust remembrance.

Hundreds of police have guarded the marches in recent months, with sections of a main Warsaw thoroughfare closed off, and public spending on protection quadrupled as liberal activists staged counter-protests.

PiS also appears to have slowed efforts to find evidence of Russian meddling in the crash, something Kaczynski has suggested in the past, even though a government investigation into the tragedy had returned pilot error as its cause.

The party is trying to rally support before local elections this year, a European Parliament vote next spring and parliamentary elections later in 2019, followed by a presidential poll in 2020.

“The (rallies) make PiS appear divisive,” said Anna Materska-Sosnowska, a political scientist at Warsaw University. “They’ve become grotesque.”
Poland's ruling Law and Justice unveils a new monument on the eighth anniversary of the disaster, which killed 96 including then-President Lech Kaczyński near Smolensk, Russia. Initial investigations primarily blamed errors on the flight crew but Poland is conducting a new investigation with a new report expected to claim Russian air traffic controllers purposely misled the jet about its location before it was destroyed in an explosion.