Russian nationalists Throw Smoke Bombs at Polish Embassy
Russian police on Wednesday arrested three far-right protesters for pelting the Polish embassy with smoke bombs in response to a nationalist riot outside Russia's diplomatic compound in Warsaw.
Supporters of the Other Russia organization that unites small anti-Kremlin opposition groups also unfurled a black banner reading "Russia from Warsaw to Port Arthur" before being detained by the police.
The group said in a statement that its action was in response to a riot involving up to 50,000 people on Poland's independence day Monday during which far-right groups threw firecrackers and set fire to a guard's booth outside the Russian embassy.
Russia on Tuesday demanded a formal apology from Poland and summoned Polish Ambassador Wojciech Zajaczkowski to the foreign ministry over the unrest.
Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski told a local radio station on Wednesday that he found it "impossible to justify" the "absolutely scandalous incident" outside the Russian compound.
Poland and Russia have a history of complicated relations marked by centuries of conflicts and mistrust.
The Polish foreign ministry meanwhile expressed its "deep regret" over the unrest outside the embassy, while its spokesman Marcin Wojciechowski tweeted on Monday: "There is no justification for hooliganism."
Twelve police officers were hospitalized and 72 protesters were detained over the course of the march that drew between 20,000 and 50,000 people, many wearing balaclavas and carrying lighted flares.
The marchers also attacked a city-center squat known as a hub of anti-fascist activity and set ablaze cars and a rainbow art installation covered in plastic flowers symbolizing tolerance.
The groups involved included the marginal All-Polish Youth and the National Radical Camp, whose members are mainly football hooligans and who espouse eurosceptic, anti-Russian and anti-government views and oppose abortion and gay marriage.
Poland and Russia have a history of complicated relations marked by centuries of conflicts. Post-Communist Poland's integration into the West as an EU and NATO member is an ongoing source of tension.
That antagonism often bubbles to the surface on the anniversary of November 11, 1918, when Poland won back its independence after being wiped off the European map for 123 years in a three-way carve-up between Russia, Prussia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Source: Agence France Presse
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