Protests in Poland demand stronger response to attacks on Ukrainians

Protesters across Poland are calling on the government to take stronger action against violence and harassment targeting Ukrainians. Organizers say demonstrations under the slogan “My Poland does not beat, insult or persecute” were held in 22 cities and that a petition with 11,000 signatures was submitted to the prime minister’s office. The protests come as Polish authorities and media track an increase in reported hate-related incidents. Rzeczpospolita, citing national police headquarters data, said Ukrainian citizens filed 180 hate-crime notifications during the first half of 2026, more than 30 percent higher than in the same period last year. The newspaper noted that these are reports, not a final tally of crimes confirmed after investigation. Several individual xenophobic incidents have also been reported in recent weeks, including confrontations in public transportation. The demonstrations frame those cases as a civic and institutional issue, asking whether police, prosecutors and national leaders are doing enough to protect residents targeted because of nationality. Illustrative photo: a solidarity demonstration in Warsaw in 2022. Image credit: Tomasz Molina / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.