Opposition leader Donald Tusk is cheered by crowds at an election rally in Warsaw Poland

Hundreds of thousands Of people. From the public They gathered in central Warsaw on Sunday for a rally organized by opposition leader Donald Tusk, two weeks before crucial elections that will have major implications for Poland’s future political course and role in Europe.

As the fierce and intense campaign entered its end, Tusk called on his supporters to show force in Warsaw and rally the opposition. He claimed that victory was in sight.

“A breakthrough moment is coming in the history of our nation,” he told a large crowd at the beginning of the march, his words echoing in the surrounding streets from groups of speakers set up in several locations. “No one from the ruling team should have any illusions. Change for the better is inevitable,” he added.

Tusk claimed that more than a million people participated in the march, which he called the “March of a Million Hearts,” while Warsaw police claimed the number was around 100,000. Online news channel Onet.pl put the number at between 600,000 and 800,000.

Large parts of central Warsaw came to a standstill, as people poured into the streets carrying Polish and European Union flags, as well as banners bearing sarcastic or angry slogans attacking the ruling Law and Justice party.

“No one believed that such crowds and such emotions could be repeated again in our history. This is a sign of the great Polish revival,” Tusk said.

Tusk served as Polish Prime Minister between 2007 and 2014 before leaving Poland to become President of the European Council. He returned to Polish politics to lead the opposition campaign in what he described as the last chance to save Polish democracy.

The Law and Justice Party came to power in 2015, pursuing a right-wing populist agenda combined with increased social spending, and gained a significant amount of support in rural areas. At the same time, the party curtailed the rights of women and minorities and was accused of backsliding on democracy.

Opinion polls indicate that the performance of the Law and Justice Party will be slightly better than that of the Civic coalition led by Tusk, and the final result is likely to come down to the performance of many small parties and the calculations related to building the coalition.

PiS leaders held their own event in the city of Katowice on Sunday, to coincide with Tusk’s march. They continued their campaign strategy of portraying opposition leaders as agents of foreigners, using Tusk’s years in Brussels to claim that he was now responsive to German interests.

“This vote is not just about what Poland will look like,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said, waving a folder he said contained damaging information about Tusk, who had a “German vision” for Poland’s future. “It’s about whether Poland will exist at all.” “.

Much of Tusk’s campaign was about restoring the language of patriotism to the opposition, which led to the red and white hearts that became a symbol of the campaign. On Sunday, thousands of march attendees were waving red and white Polish flags.

“I see a sea of ​​red and white banners… We all share the opinion that our red and white homeland can be home to free people again,” Tusk said.

The Law and Justice Party’s years of rule saw it take control of the public media, increase friction with Brussels, and introduce some of the harshest anti-abortion laws in Europe.

Rafael Trzaskowski, mayor of Warsaw’s Civic Coalition, also addressed the gathering, saying he hoped the election would lead to a more “open and tolerant” Poland.

“We are marching so that children do not have to watch their mothers get beaten because they are fighting for their rights… and so that no one attacks children carrying rainbow bags who are fighting for their rights,” Trzaskowski said.

While the size of the rally will undoubtedly energize opposition forces as they enter the final phase of the election campaign, most observers say the final outcome of the election remains impossible to predict with confidence.

“It’s amazing to see so many happy, smiling people in one place and to imagine how different Poland could be,” said 41-year-old Joanna from Wrocław, who traveled to Warsaw with her two teenage daughters to attend the conference. the gathering.

“But I’m still really worried that PiS can win again, and then I’ll be worried for me, but especially worried for these two and their future in this country.”

Additional reporting by Katarzyna Piasecka