Thousands rally in Warsaw against migrant policies

Participants hold Polish national flags during an anti-migration protest called by Poland’s nationalist Law and Justice party on Royal Castle Square in Warsaw, Oct. 11, 2025. (AFP)

• Under heavy rain, protesters heeded a call from the main opposition Law and Justice party
• Nawrocki and Tusk’s government are divided on immigration, foreign policy and support for Ukraine

WARSAW: Thousands of Poles took to the streets of Warsaw on Saturday to march against illegal immigration and European migration policy, according to AFP journalists.
Under heavy rain, protesters heeded a call from the main opposition Law and Justice party (PiS), which backs nationalist President Karol Nawrocki.
Supporters gathered at Castle Square at 2:00 p.m. (12:00 GMT) in the city’s Old Town, with many arriving by bus from across the country, waving Polish flags.
“I see what is happening in the West. I have two children who live in Germany, and I see the danger there and its impact on German identity. Germans now feel like minorities in their own country,” a 64-year-old retiree told AFP.
A large majority of the country, including supporters of Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-EU governing coalition, favors the tightening of migration policy and a tougher stance on Ukrainian refugees, according to opinion polls.
Nawrocki and Tusk’s government are divided on immigration, foreign policy and support for Ukraine.
Nawrocki and the PiS party have repeatedly criticized the European Union’s migration pact, adopted last year and set to come into force in June 2026.
Under the agreement, member states would either be required to take in thousands of migrants from “frontline” countries or provide additional funding instead.
In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen this week, Nawrocki said Poland, which has welcomed more than one million Ukrainian refugees since Russia’s full-scale invasion of their country in February 2022, had done its part.
“The overwhelming majority of Poles, from all political leanings, oppose the forced relocation of migrants to Poland,” he wrote.
“I will not consent to the implementation of the Migration and Asylum Pact in Poland,” he added.