Poland marks 2010 air crash that killed president

WARSAW: Poland held a scaled-back memorial on Friday for the air crash that killed president Lech Kaczynski and dozens of others in Russia a decade ago, amid a lockdown to control coronavirus.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called for a show of unity similar to that which brought the country together in 2010 to help get through the pandemic. Only Jaroslaw Kaczynski, brother of the late president and today head of the ruling conservative party (PiS), Morawiecki and a handful of senior officials laid wreaths at the Warsaw monument for those who lost their lives on April 10, 2010.

A short prayer followed but with commemorations severely curtailed there were no speeches. President Andrzej Duda laid flowers on Kaczynski’s tomb at the Wawel royal castle in Krakow. "It was a moment when time stopped," the prime minister tweeted. "The cry that went up then still resonates. We got through this tragedy as a community. Today, in different circumstances, we also need to show unity."