While Poland’s presidential elections have seen a neck-to-neck runoff between Rafał Trzaskowski (Koalicja Obywatelska – KO) and Karol Nawrocki (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość -PiS), there have been a few surprised in the last weeks of the campaigns.
This was expected; what was not expected would be the appearances of movie heroes like Zorro and Batman disturbing political rallies of the two parties.
On May 23, during a political event organized by Trzaskowski in Tarnów (South-East Poland), the masked sword-wielding hero Zorro unexpectedly appeared on the roof of a house with an anti-KO banner.
While evading the police, the man was interviewed by Republika, one of Poland’s most popular media outlets. He refused to reveal his face during the interview while he accused Polish PM Donald Tusk of ‘promising 100 promises, 100 of which he did not fulfill’. He also claimed to ‘represent all the citizens who are unhappy with Donald Tusk’.
After Tusk’s 2023 victory over PiS, the younger generation hoped for changes and a liberal shift, but a lack of an absolute majority has translated into a parliamentary stalemate between PiS and KO, with President Andrzej Duda often looking to overturn PM Tusk’s decisions.
Due to his past as the President of the European Council (2014-2019), Tusk has often been framed as a “Brussels Bureaucrat” who prioritizes Europe over Poland’s sovereignty.
PiS has often claimed that Tusk wants to “force” Poland to accept migrant quotas, accusing him of being a “sell-out” to the EU. Within KO, Tusk has also faced criticism for lacking firmness over his promises, especially when it comes to church-state separation.
In some of Poland’s major cities, his party, KO, has been accused of lacking efforts to combat rising housing prices, especially in Warsaw and Krakow. Promised reforms over the depolarization of the judicial courts and reforming national media have also been slow, leading to further frustration, particularly from younger voters.
Zorro would be the first, but not the last hero to make an appearance with political motives. Last Friday, Spider-man appeared on a roof in Gliwice (lower Silesia), expressing opposition to the KO candidate, Trzaskowski .
Similarly, Spider-man was invited by Republika TV to explain his stance, also keeping his mask on. In the interview, he insisted that “Trzaskowski cannot win”. Spider-man also insisted he, and other voters hold “worries concerning the situation of illegal immigrants should Trzaskowski win”.
His pro-immigration stance is likely the deal breaker for many voters. Trzaskowski has looked to move away from PiS’ isolationist stance on immigration, agreeing with the EU’s Migrant Pact instead which states that every member country needs to accept responsibility for asylum seekers that enter.
Another hot-button topic that opposition voters critique Trzaskowski’s for is his openly pro-LGBTQ+ and abortion stance, which clashes with Poland’s traditional conservative and catholic background.
While Gliwice had Spider-Man, and Tarnów had Zorro , another movie hero appeared on the other side of the country, in Gdańsk, on the same day.
While Trzaskowski staged a political rally in Gdańsk, Batman appeared in the city center, who also held the same banner as Zorro and Spider-man: “It will not be Trzaskowski”.
Batman’s arrest has triggered anger across the country on social media. PiS member Dariusz Matecki described the events as an “attack” from the police on Twitter.
The Police published a statement on the platform, which reads that the operation was done “for the safety of the participants of the rally”, insisting that the person hanging the banner “shouted loudly and did not follow the police’s instructions”.
The media and police response to protests is likely to ignite further flames of protest that are unlikely to fade when the results are announced tonight.
Author: Kai E. Iliev
Featured image via Fotophoto / Shuterstock.
