Polish army to organize security for Independence Day march as police stage walkouts

The Polish Defense Ministry will organize security during an Independence Day march this weekend in Warsaw because police are staging mass walkouts in a pay dispute, a government official has said. Warsaw’s mayor on Wednesday banned that march, and state officials quickly announced plans for an inclusive state march in its place, AP reported. The announcement on Thursday was the latest development in changing preparations for celebrations of the centenary of Polish independence, regained at the end of World War I. Over the past decade, radical nationalists have staged November 11 marches that have featured racist banners and rioting. The Defense Ministry will organize security this time, Michal Dworczyk, chief of the prime minister’s office, said on Thursday.