The president issued a regulation on the introduction of a 30-day state of emergency in the part of Podlaskie and Lubelskie Voivodeship. What can that mean for all Poles?
On 2 September 2021, president of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda, on the basis of Article 230(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and Article 3 of the Act on Exceptional Condition, at the request of the Council of Ministers of 31 August 2021, issued a regulation on the introduction of a 30-day emergency state in the area of the Podlaskie and Lublin Voivodeship.
As we read in the presidential justification, the decision to introduce a state of emergency was taken in connection with a peculiar threat to the safety of citizens and public order related to the current situation on the state border of the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Belarus.
However, thesis about the peculiar threat from a group of Afghan refugees who were driven over the Polish border by Belarusian services seems very dubious. Importantly, the current authorities have not dared to take akin steps in a global pandemic situation erstwhile the threat of a much larger dimension seemed much more justified.
What restrictions were imposed on residents of east Poland?
- the suspension of the right to organise and conduct, in an area subject to an emergency, meetings within the meaning of the Act of 24 July 2015 – Convention Law (Journal of Laws of 2019 item 631);
- the suspension of the right to organise and conduct mass events within an area subject to the emergency, within the meaning of the provisions of the Act of 20 March 2009 on the Safety of Mass Events (Journal of Laws of 2019 item 2171) and carried out in the context of cultural activities of artistic and amusement events, which are not mass events;
- the work to carry with them an identity card or another paper stating the identity of persons under the age of 18 who are in public places in an area of emergency and, in the case of students under the age of 18, a school card;
- the prohibition of residence in designated places, facilities and areas;
- a prohibition on the preservation by method means of appearance or another characteristics of specified places, facilities or areas;
- restrict the right to hold firearms, ammunition and explosives and another types of weapons by prohibiting their carrying;
- limiting access to public information on activities carried out in an area of emergency in connection with the protection of national borders and the prevention and prevention of illegal migration.
At the same time, the president of the Republic of Poland addressed a regulation to the Marshal of the Polish Sejm for its consideration by the Sejm of the Republic of Poland.
It is increasingly said that the introduction of a state of emergency in 2 voivodships is simply a kind of test of the public's reaction to specified exacerbations. If this goes smoothly, it will clearly signal to the authorities that we can go even further and introduce akin unjustified restrictions on a much larger scale, specified as social protests, discontent of selected professional groups, or the announcement of another wave of pandemic...
