Poles to protest against the financial harassment of ethnic minorities

Wileński Rejonowy Oddział Związku Polaków na Litwie (The Vilnius District Branch of the Association of Poles in Lithuania) is organizing a picket in front of the German embassy in Vilnius on Wednesday, June 25. The demonstration is meant to express the ZLP’s dissatisfaction with a lack of progress in solving the problems of Poles and other ethnic minorities in Lithuania.

Today a Lithuanian court imposed another fine on a Polish administrative official, Lucyna Kotłowska, for not removing street name signs with Polish names alongside the Lithuanian ones from Vilnius District Municipality, where Poles amount to the majority of its inhabitants.

The picket is to be held in front of the German embassy, since Germany is the most populous country in Europe and considered to be among countries with most economic power, as well as one of the most important players in the EU political scene. Not to mention the fact that German minority outside Germany can enjoy their full rights resulting from their minority status.

Wileński Rejonowy Oddział ZLP states that they are organizing a demonstration because the Polish minority in Lithuania cannot agree to be submitted to constant reducing of their laws and financial harassment. They also want to urge the Lithuanian government to meet the EU standards concerning human rights.

Source: awpl.lt

Source: http://pl.delfi.lt/aktualia/litwa/protest-przeciwko-represjom-finansowym-w-stosunku-do-mniejszosci-narodowych.d?id=65014583

Tłumaczenie by Michał M. Kowalski w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Michał M. Kowalski within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.