A few days before the European elections, supporters of Prime Minister Donald Tusk held a rally in Poland to commemorate the first partially free elections in 1989.
They gathered in Warsaw's Castle Square on Tuesday with Polish flags and banners reading "We are citizens of the EU."
"You are here because Poland has not yet grown tired of freedom," Tusk said.
June 4 is an important date in Poland: the first partially free elections were held on this day in 1989 - a triumph of the democracy movement and the Solidarity, or Solidarność, trade union, which also heralded the end of Communist rule.
"The history of 1989 was the expulsion of the Soviet system from our country. Today we are here to ensure that this system does not return," said Tusk, referring to the Russian war against neighbouring Ukraine.
The rally was intended to mobilize supporters of Tusk's liberal-conservative Citizens' Coalition ahead of the European elections on June 9.
However, it is also a reminder of a very successful protest on the same day last year. Back then, more than 100,000 people demonstrated against the policies of the then nationalist conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) government.
The large demonstration gave the camp led by Tusk new momentum. As a result, the PiS was voted out of office in the parliamentary elections in October 2023. Poland is now governed by a centre-left coalition under Tusk's leadership.
