Exorcise This

Today, something new in the field of exorcism was tried in Warszawa, Poland.

About 50 members of the new ruling Party PiS (Law & Justice) brought a priest to a protest against the leading Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza (meaning Electoral Gazette in English) so as to preform a exorcism on the newspaper. 

Protest / Exorcism at Newspaper Headquarters

According to AFP after marching to the publisher denouncing "lies" spewed by the Polish media concerning ultra-right wing policy and appointment changes by Jaroslaw Kaczynski's lead Party  the protesters arrived at the newspaper building with an icon of the Virgin Mary and a sign reading "Rosary crusade for the Motherland". Then the priest recited an exorcism prayer before the newspaper's headquarters.

The protesters were greeted by a flurry of leaflets, which included cartoons defending freedom of speech and a banner hung from the Gazeta Wyborcza building read "Constitution without censorship".

Most Polish media, especially the Gazeta Wyborcza led by former dissident Adam Michnik, a key symbol of free speech in Poland have been critical of  PiS.

The eurosceptic PiS party has plans to overhaul state media and at the moment has replacement of members of  the Constitutional Court in its crosshairs.

Kaczynski lashed out at the country's top court, accusing it of trying to block government policies in an escalating confrontation over which judges can serve on the bench.


Gazeta Wyborcza was first published in 1989, under the rhyming masthead motto, "Nie ma wolności bez Solidarności" ("There's no freedom without Solidarity). Its founding was an outcome of thePolish Round Table Agreement. between the communist government and the Solidarity movement. It was initially owned by Agora SA then American based Cox Communications partially bought the daily. The paper served as the voice of Solidarity during the run-up to free elections held on in June 1989 (hence its title). It was the first legal newspaper published outside the government's control during the communist era.