Leading Polish opposition lawmaker Borys Budka urged his country’s government to break the “spiral of hate” ahead of next month’s national elections after he was physically assaulted on Friday.
Budka, a senior member of Poland’s largest opposition group, Civic Platform, was attacked by an unidentified man at midday while shopping in Katowice, according to media reports.
Budka told reporters that the man verbally abused him before pushing him and breaking the phone he was using to record the encounter. The man was detained by police.
“I was called names like German, Tusk’s pig, Nazi,” Budka said, referring to Civic Platform leader Donald Tusk, who has been the subject of barrages of abuse from the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party and pro-government media.
Budka blamed PiS leader and Poland’s de facto ruler Jaroslaw Kaczyński for creating a polarized climate that inspired the attack. He said Kaczyński bears “political responsibility” because of the violent rhetoric he’s used against opposition politicians.
“Let me remind you that it is Kaczyński, with his sick obsession with Donald Tusk, who attacks everyone around him, who attacks opposition politicians, and unfortunately people who follow him take it literally,” Budka said.
“Do you want a repeat of the Gdańsk tragedy?” Budka asked Kaczyński, referring to the politically motivated murder of Gdańsk Mayor Paweł Adamowicz in 2019. “I expect Kaczyński to break this spiral of hate.”
