A Pro-Russian Tent Site Near The U.S. Embassy Was Dismantled In Warsaw

The organizer ended up in a mental institution.

After more than a year of presence in the very center of Warsaw, the tent camp of Vladimir Putin supporters set up opposite the US Embassy on Ujazdowski Alley has been dismantled. The dismantling became possible after services recorded a violation committed by the organizer, writes "Gazeta Wyborcza".

A year of pro-Russian agitation in the center of the capital

Since August 17, 2024, a tent stood on Ujazdowski Alleys, where activists supporting the Kremlin's policies spread anti-Semitic and anti-Ukrainian talking points. For more than a year, Warsaw residents and tourists heading towards Lazienok Królewski were forced to witness the Russian regime's demonstrative propaganda.

Activists handed out leaflets calling Putin a "victim of the war in Ukraine" and blaming the conflict on politicians and public figures allegedly linked to Jewish organizations. Among those mentioned were former Polish President Andrzej Duda, former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, journalist and writer Ann Applebaum, former Polish Justice Minister Adam Bodnar and Gazety Wyborczej chief Adam Michnik.

Banners displayed on the stack included the slogans:

"Nomads, stop pitting us against Russians!",

"US-RAELA Anti-Polonism",

"Should Poland Become a Second Palestine?".

Representatives of pro-Russian groups, including Wojciech Olshanski ("Jaszczur"), spoke at the tent.

Organizer - known supporter of Lukashenko

The initiator of the tent was Andrzej Zakrzewski, leader of the "Sovereignty of the Polish People" movement, known among Polish nationalists as a supporter of Alexander Lukashenko. It was he who organized the "spontaneous guarding" of Russian ambassador Sergei Andreev during events at the cemetery-mausoleum of Soviet soldiers in May 2024.

The movement promotes the ideas of Poland's withdrawal from the EU and NATO, as well as cooperation with Russia. In the presidential election, the organization supported Macej Maciej Maciak, a supporter of cooperation with the Kremlin, who won only 0.19% of the vote.

Why the city couldn't intervene sooner

Zakszewski exercised the right to assemble under Polish law. In September 2024, Warsaw City Hall spokeswoman Monika Boyt said city officials had no right to refuse the requested assembly because it would have violated the Constitution.

The organizer's key mistake

The situation changed when gas cylinders were found in the tent.

According to Jacub Dybalski, a spokesman for the city's Roads Department, firefighters determined that the facility posed a threat to life and limb both in and around it. This gave legal grounds for the decision to dismantle the tent along with the equipment and posted materials.

In addition, in recent months, the tent was no longer a formally registered assembly and was regarded as an illegal occupation of road space, which allowed administrative procedures to be initiated against the organizers.

Dismantling and hospitalization of the organizer

In the evening of November 20, the tent was dismantled with the participation of police, municipal guards and firefighters. As it became known, Andrzej Zakrzewski resisted. The police called an ambulance to the scene, which took him to the Warsaw Medical University Psychiatric Clinic on Nowowiejska Street.

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