During commemorations on Sunday in Radom, south of Warsaw, one of the cities where protests erupted in June 1976, an aide read a message from President Andrzej Duda, who said that striking workers decades ago "set an example of courage and heroism in the face of communist repression."
Photo: PAP/Piotr Polak
"In order to enjoy freedom, we must draw on the legacy of those who won it for us," Duda said in his message to those gathered, who included a group of former anti-communist oppositionists.
"Once achieved, freedom must be nurtured and protected," the president added.
The Polish Prime Minister's Office said in a tweet that some 70,000 to 80,000 people took to the streets in Poland 47 years ago "in protest against drastic food price increases announced by the communist authorities."
The demonstrations "turned into clashes with police forces, which led to arrests, detentions and dismissals," it added.
The state-run Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) said that the demonstrations in 1976 were sparked by government increases in food prices. A strike of about 70,000 people in around 90 factories across Poland followed.
Protests also took place in the Warsaw district of Ursus and in Płock, north-west of the capital, leading to clashes with riot police.
Many of the demonstrators were arrested and suffered repression, including losing their jobs, at the hands of the communist authorities.
Nevertheless, the protests paved the way to the birth of the Solidarity pro-democracy movement several years later, officials said.
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Source: PAP, radom.naszemiasto.pl, prezydent.pl