Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Poles ridicule mourning for president

|
|
 
  
Polish Presidential candidate Jaroslaw Kaczynski (L), twin brother of President Lech Kaczynski who was killed in a plane crash, arrives to vote with his brother's daughter Marta, her husband Marcin Dubieniecki and her daughters Ewa and Martina during a presidential election runoff in Warsaw, Poland, on July 4, 2010. UPI/Andrzejewski Maciej 
License photo
Published: March. 30, 2011 at 10:58 AM

WARSAW, Poland, March 30 (UPI) -- Some Poles are resorting to mockery to counter to what they see as excessive mourning for late Polish President Lech Kaczynski.

Kaczynski, his wife and 94 Polish leaders died April 10, 2010, in a plane crash in Russia en route to a commemoration of the infamous 1940 Katyn Forest massacre of 22,000 Poles by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

On the 10th of every month since, his twin brother, opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has laid a wreath in front of the presidential palace in Warsaw.

Kaczynski's opponents accuse him of exploiting his brother's death and have responded by honoring American action movie stars.

On March 10, hundreds gathered to celebrate the birthday of actor Chuck Norris. On April 10, it will be Steven Seagal, organizer Dominik Taras told Germany's Der Spiegel.

More than 100,000 people have signed onto an Internet campaign calling for the media to stop playing up the plane crash. A poll found that 58 percent oppose erecting a monument to Kaczynski in Warsaw.

Topics: Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Josef Stalin
Recommended Stories
© 2011 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Protesters, police clash at NATO summit Notable deaths of 2012 2012 Billboard Music Awards
The 137th Preakness Stakes Annual Solar eclipse occurs in U.S. Chen Guangcheng arrives in the U.S.
Additional Odd News Stories
Your Daily Horoscope
The almanac
1 of 22
Memorial Day Ceremonies on the Intrepid Sea Air & Space Museum in New York
View Caption
American Military Service members and Veterans hold a 100 foot wide U.S. Flag for Memorial Day ceremonies at the Intrepid Sea Air & Space Museum in New York City on May 28, 2012. UPI/John Angelillo
fark
Some people get cards on their birthday. Others get a three-ton Chinese pagoda stolen from Otto...
Elvis Presley's crypt is for sale. Yes, it still smells like peanut butter, bacon and back sweat...
Fark's favorite Headlines of the Week for 5/20 - 5/26
Reluctantly, Florida libraries allow Fifty Shades of Grey back onto the shelves after realizing...
Meanwhile in Japan, this new Pepsi flavor arrived to ruin everyone's day
According to Volvo, drivers "can now work on their laptops, read a book or sit back and enjoy a...