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Revision as of 11:31, 18 August 2019
The anti-Muslim Ełk riots took place in January 2017 at Ełk, Poland. Several hundred men surrounded Prince Kebab restaurant,[1][2] tossing firecrackers, stones, and Molotov cocktails at the shop.[3] Police initially stood by and did not intervene for several hours, however when they did intervene the crowd turned against them as well.[3] Other attacks on Kebab restaurants took place throughout Poland.[3]
Background
The town of Ełk has some 60,000 residents of which six are originally from Muslim countries.[4] During the 2015 Polish parliamentary election campaign, Islamophobic sentiments were whipped up by political parties.[4] An anti-migrant demonstration took place in Ełk during the 2015 campaign, followed by demonstration against a refugee center in Olecko.[4] On March 2016, a racist attack against the employees of Prince Kebab was staged by young locals.[4] Kebab shops are popular in Poland, however perceptions of employees of Kebab restaurants are unfavorable.[3]
While Muslims in Poland, some 35,000, constitute only 0.1 percent of the population, Islamophobia in Poland is significant.[3] The leader of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, Jarosław Kaczyński, had stated that Muslims carry diseases.[3] The pro-government magazine wSieci ran a cover titled "The Islamic Rape of Europe" with an image of a blonde woman assailed by brown hands.[3]
On New Year's eve (31 December 2016), a man named Daniel Rudnicki,[3][5] entered the Prince Kebab shop, took two coke bottles, and left without paying. One of Rudnicki's friends threw a firecracker into the shop, and Rudnicki did not hide his theft. Two restaurant employees chased the thief, one of them holding a kitchen knife. In the ensuing fight, Rudnicki was killed.[1]
Riots
Following the altercation, several hundred men surrounded the shop.[1][2] The crowd tossed firecrackers, stones, and Molotov cocktails at the shop. The Police did not intervene for several hours, watching as the crowd broke the shop's windows.[3] When police did intervene, a few hours later, the crowd turned against the police as well. 38 people were arrested.[3]
The day following the riots, activists from the far-right National Radical Camp (ONR) came to Ełk, employing the slogan "Ełk free from jihad".[3] According to Przemysław Witkowski, the inciters of the riots felt that they had the official blessing of by higher political echelons.[6]
In Lublin, the Superkebab restaurant was vandalized[1] with the slogan "Fuck ISIS".[3]
In Legnica, a masked man beat up a Bangladeshi employee of a Kebab business.[3]
In Wrocław a Molotov cocktail was tossed at an Egyptian business.[3]
In Ozorków, a Pakistani worker at a kebab shop was beaten up the next day.[3]
Aftermath
Polish media did not describe the event as racist or Islamophobic. Polish media stressed the Polish identity of Rudnicki, while describing the shop workers as Algerian, Tunisian, or Arab.[1]
The Polish foreign minister Mariusz Błaszczak responded to events saying "Poland is not affected by social problems such as those in Western Europe, where big enclaves of Muslim immigrants who do not integrate with the rest of society occur". Błaszczak further stated that the riot was an expression of "utterly understandable fears" to Islamic terrorism in Europe.[1]
Perception of Rudnicki vary among locals; While some see him as a man with a criminal record who died prior to the Kebab violence, right-wing nationalists see him as the victim of "Arab" violence, part of a campaign of "Islamization of Europe".[3]
A short time after the riots, "The kebab war" website was launched, subtitled "death to the enemies of the fatherland" ((Polish: smierc wrogom ojczyzny) which is an allusion to football fans who are obsessed with a national history of massacres and Catholic glory and use this slogan as their motto. On the website, a famous painting of the Battle of Grunwald is rendered with the enemies being migrants holding kebab sandwiches, and each attack on a kebab business, is given the name of a famous historic battle. [3]
Following the riots, "native" Polish kebab shops were opened. In Lublin, a stall with the slogan "Real kebab at the real Pole" with a large Polish flag was launched to sell kebab. In Ełk, a "native" McKebab restaurant was opened.[3]
The man who stabbed Rudnicki, pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder, saying he did not want to kill anyone and that he is sorry for Rudnicki's family.[7] According to TVN24, he was convicted for murder in 2019 and sentenced to 12 years in jail and a 70,000 Polish złoty fine. According to TVN24, the owner of Prince Kebab was sentenced to a suspended sentence of one year in prison for participating in the fight and not helping Rudnicki.[8]
Some of the rioters were sentenced to prison or community service.[3]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Zawadzka, Anna. "Drinking vodka with anti-Semites. A case study of ‘Polish-Jewish relations’ today." Adeptus 11 (2018): 1-23.
- ^ a b Tunisian charged over Poland stabbing that sparked riot, BBC, 2 January 2017
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Died by the kebab knife, NRC Handelsblad, 29 December 2017, Roeland Termote & Pieter van Os
- ^ a b c d Łyszczarz, Michał, and Stefan M. Marcinkiewicz. "Radykalizacja antymuzułmańskiego i antyimigranckiego dyskursu w mediach społecznościowych w latach 2016 i 2017 na przykładzie wydarzeń w Ełku." Uniwersyteckie Czasopismo Socjologiczne/Academic Journal of Sociology 22.1 (2019).
- ^ Łyszczarz, Michał, and Stefan Michał Marcinkiewicz. "Obecność muzułmanów i imigrantów w polskim dyskursie publicznym na przykładzie doniesień prasowych dotyczących wydarzeń w Ełku na przełomie 2016 i 2017 roku.", MKKS, 14/3, 2018
- ^ Polish racism in a Mazurian kebab shop, Przemysław Witkowski, 3 January 2017, Political Critique
- ^ The trial begins for the murder at Prince Kebab, Gazeta Wyborcza (Bialystok), 12 March 2018
- ^ After the murder, riots broke out in the city. The accused just heard the verdict, TVN24, 3 June 2019