Just as in Britain, the US and Hungary, the far right in Poland is now mobilising around the question of immigration. Over the last month the country has witnessed a number of worrying developments.
The first was in the run up to the presidential elections in May when a thousand-strong anti-immigration protest took place in Warsaw.
This was the first demonstration in Poland called solely on this issue.
Well-known organiser
The protest was organised by the well-known ultranationalist Robert Bakiewicz. Bakiewicz is one of the organisers of the annual far-right Independence Day march held in Warsaw.
He was also one of the leaders of the campaign to “defend” Catholic churches during the women’s rights protests in 2020.
The May protest included members of the neo–Nazi Confederation (Konfederacja) and the far-right PiS. The former education minister Przemyslaw Czarnek also attended.
The march was opposed by around 200 anti-fascist protestors, organised under the banner “Immigrants Are Welcome, Poland Is Our Common Home”.
Second wave
A second wave of anti-migration marches took place in eighty towns and cities across Poland on the 19 July. Marching under the banner of “Stop Immigration” these protests were organised by the Confederation party.
The organisers claimed that up to 100,000 joined the protests, however the police put a figure of 30,000. Either way the numbers are worryingly high.
The largest protests took place in Warsaw, Kraków and Katowice.
The march in Warsaw was dominated by a mixture of PiS/Confederation supporters and football hooligans. Amongst them were people openly wearing neo-Nazi insignia.
A small group wore white balaclavas with Celtic Crosses stitched on them. Others wore Combat 18 T-shirts. SS branded sweatshirts and various neo-Nazi flags were also on display.
Again in at least twelve towns and cities, anti-racists took to the streets to oppose the Confederation marches.
Outsourcing paramilitarism
Poland’s far-right anti-immigration campaign has also taken an even more sinister turn, with the creation of a 7,000 strong Border Defence Movement – Ruch Obrony Granic, (ROG).
This paramilitary force was founded in March 2025 by Robert Bąkiewicz, yes, the same Bąkiewicz who is behind the anti-refugee events and Warsaw Independence Day.
ROG organises so-called citizens’ patrols on Poland’s borders. They first appeared on its border with Belarus last autumn.
Since then, ROG have expanded their operations and are now patrolling Poland’s borders with Germany and Lithuania.
Earlier this month a ROG group laid siege to a hostel where migrant workers lived in the small town Zyrardow.
ROG’s tactics mirror those being adopted by right-wing vigilantes on the US/Mexico border and by far-right thugs outside hotels housing migrants in Britain.
Secret meetings
Instead of banning ROG, the Polish government has capitulated to their demands and introduced its own controls on the borders with Germany and Lithuania.
It is banning asylum claims for those attempting to enter from Belarus and is restricting the number of worker and student visas it issues.
Searchlight can also reveal that Bąkiewicz has had secret meetings with representatives of Hungary’s neo-Nazi Our Homeland Movement (Mi Hazánk Mozgalom) about setting up vigilante patrols.
The leader of Our Homeland Movement is Ásotthalom mayor and former Jobbik Vice-President, László Toroczkai.
Toroczkai came to notoriety as the leader of armed paramilitary groups that patrolled Hungary’s borders with Serbia and later “policed” Roma and refugee camps in Budapest.
Instead of serving prison time, Toroczkai’s vigilantes were hired by local government agencies as border patrol guards. I call this the “outsourcing of paramilitarism”.
Catholic support
A similar process is taking place in the US. It would appear that Bąkiewicz is attempting to “outsource” his foot soldiers.
Important sections of the Polish Catholic Church have also expressed support for ROG and the anti-immigration movements against migrants.
For example, earlier this month, Antoni Długosz, auxiliary bishop emeritus of Częstochowa, claimed that “for decades, the Islamisation of Europe has been progressing through mass immigration” and that “illegal immigrants…create serious problems in the countries they arrive in”. He also expressed support for the ROG.
The coming together of an anti-migrant street movement and vigilante groups, endorsed by sections of the Catholic Church, is yet another dangerous development of the far right in Europe.
