Word: gdansk
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Gierek last week weathered a different but no less important test with high marks. With unrest continuing among the workers whose December rioting led to the leadership shakeup, Gierek took the unusual and daring step of meeting personally with the most militant protesters in Szczecin and Gdansk...
Poland's pre-Christmas riots flared up so suddenly and died down so quickly that people are only now beginning to realize how close the country came to disaster. In the disorders that rocked the seaport towns of Gdansk. Gdynia and Sopot and the industrial center...
...point during the riots, Gdansk shipyard workers with blazing acetylene torches in their hands chanted "Burn! Burn!" and threatened to ignite huge fuel tanks in the yards; they were dissuaded at the last minute by party officials, who promised to listen to their grievances. In Warsaw, Cracow and other major cities, workers were preparing to stage a general strike and demonstrations when the abrupt resignation of Party Chief Wladyslaw Gomulka persuaded them to wait and see what would happen next. In his anger, Gomulka warned other officials that unless the rioting stopped, he would call upon Soviet troops and tanks...
Meanwhile, army tanks rumbled into the city and police bombed demonstrators with tear gas from helicopters hovering overhead. Blaming "hooligans" and "rowdies" for the disorders, Radio Gdansk interrupted regular programming to announce a dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed by the Presidium of the Provincial Council; public gatherings were also banned. In addition, the Presidium appealed to "civic consciousness to guarantee peace in our town." It warned that it would utilize "all means" to restore order and told militiamen to shoot to kill. Despite the tough measures-and Warsaw's initial effort to keep silent about the protests-word...
...rage of riot, arson and disorder eventually reached a point at which the central government was forced to acknowledge it openly. Warsaw television showed a 2½-minute film segment of overturned autos and charred buildings in Gdansk-but no protesting workers. Premier Józef Cyrankiewicz appeared on TV prime time to deplore the riots and to admit "a number of dead in the teens." The toll was undoubtedly higher; the first nongovernment estimate was at least 20 killed and 700 injured. Among the dead were "officials," meaning police. Indirectly, the Premier indicated that some of the demonstrators were...