As part of the ongoing nationwide protest, farmers arrived on Wednesday in the village of Sidra in the Podlasie region in the east of Poland. Their target was the house belonging to the speaker of the Sejm, Szymon Hołownia. The farmers dumped manure and car tires in front of the gate to Hołownia’s property and erected protest banners on the fencing surrounding the house.
As farmers explained on the banners they hung, they wanted to “thank” him “for gassing and beating us in Warsaw.”
Moreover, they called Hołownia “a traitor to the Polish countryside.”
The farmers were referring to a protest held in Warsaw on March 13. Clashes took place with the police outside of parliament, which the police blamed on the demonstrators, while opposition politicians and the farmers claimed that the problems had been caused by provocateurs.
Speaker Hołownia told reporters that this was the home of his elderly parents, who were shaken by the incident. He added that he did not “believe this was the action taken by farmers. This is hooligans posing as farmers,” he said.
The police are likely to bring charges against the perpetrators, as the entry to the property had been blocked and the fence was covered with banners without the owner’s permission.
The farmers’ protests against the EU’s Green Deal and food imports from Ukraine took place across 580 locations, with the police estimating that 70,000 individuals were involved, making them the largest action so far during the “farmers’ strike” which began in February.
Farmers blocked access roads to major cities, including the capital Warsaw, as well as border crossings with Ukraine.
