WARSAW, Poland — Women’s rights activists and thousands of their supporters held a fifth day of protests across Poland on Monday, defying pandemic restrictions to express their anger at a top court ruling that tightens the predominantly Catholic nation’s already strict abortion law.
In Warsaw, mostly young demonstrators with drums, horns and firecrackers blocked rush-hour traffic at a number of major roundabouts. Some took off their shirts and stood topless on top of cars. Many held banners with an obscenity calling on the right-wing government to step down.
Organizers said people joined their protests in more than 150 cities in Poland, including Poznan, Lodz and Katowice. In Krakow, protesters chanted “This is War!” — a slogan that demonstrators have repeated often in recent days.
Protesters defied a ban on gatherings intended to halt a spike in new coronavirus infections.
They have taken to the streets each day since the ConstitutionalTribunalruledThursday that it was unconstitutional to terminate a pregnancy because of fetal congenital defects. The ruling, which has not taken effectyet,effectivelybansalmost all abortions in the country.
The head of a doctors’ group, Dr. Andrzej Matyja, speaking on Radio Zet, criticized the ruling’s timing during the pandemic, saying it amounted to an “irresponsible provoking of people to rallies” where social distancing cannot be maintained.