WARSAW, Poland — Prosecutors have opened an investigation into whether the Polish flag was publicly insulted after a family in Warsaw hung a flag from their balcony combined with a lightning bolt, a symbol for women’s rights in Poland.
It’s the latest incident to raise questions about freedom of expression under a conservative government that has been trying to rein in anti-government protesters who have sometimes used national or religious symbols in their iconography.
Over the weekend, the police entered the Warsaw home without a warrant and removed the family’s flag. It had a lightning bolt, the symbol for the Women’s Strike movement, superimposed on the national white-and-red flag.
Aleksandra Skrzyniarz, a spokeswoman for the district prosecutor’s office in Warsaw, told TVN24 on Monday that prosecutors had opened an investigation. It’s to determine if there was a violation of a law which makes it a crime to insult, destroy or damage flags and other national emblems.
The crime can be punished by up to a year in prison.
Those who support the movement for women’s rights argue that the lightning bolt doesn’t amount to insulting the flag, noting that other symbols in the past have been included with the Polish flag without causing controversy.
They worry that it is an attempt to instill fear in protesters, though others said they now expect to see more flags with the lightning bolt at future protests.
The Women’s Strike has organized mass nationwide anti-government protests after a high court ruled Oct. 22 to ban abortions even when the fetus has congenital defects. The ruling would further tighten one of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws.
Three women in Poland have also been charged and face up to two years in jail for “insulting religious beliefs” after sharing posters of the Virgin Mary with a halo in the rainbow colors of the LGBT flag. That was a protest against anti-LGBT language by authorities.
Last month, Amnesty International said such activities should be protected by freedom of expression guarantees.
“Given the complete lack of evidence of a crime here, it is clear that these three women are being tried for their peaceful activism,” said Catrinel Motoc, Amnesty International’s senior Europe campaigner.
