Rules of participation

The assembly has been notified under the simplified procedure (Prawo o zgromadzeniach, chapter 3). It is lawful — and our job is to keep it that way from start to finish.

Please read this before you come. It is not a formality: some of these rules follow directly from the statute, and whether the assembly happens at all depends on them being observed.

1. One subject — processing times for residence cases

We are asking the Polish authorities to observe the deadlines set by the Code of Administrative Procedure. Specifically:

Repeal of Article 100d — the provision that released the offices from responsibility for delay and stripped us of legal remedies.

More staff in foreigners' affairs departments — enough for the statutory deadlines to be achievable. Calculations based on Office for Foreigners data show that throughput must rise by at least 22%, otherwise the queue grows every year.

Publication of data — how many cases are pending, how long they take, and how many people work in these departments, broken down by province. At present nobody knows.

The first two are connected: as long as delay carries no consequences, the state has no reason to hire anyone.

Everything else is off-topic. Geopolitics, the regimes in our countries of origin, wars, elections, any conflicts. Not because these things do not matter, but because there are other rallies for them, and we have one very specific task.

2. No national symbols

There are no flags at this assembly — none at all. No white-red-white, no Ukrainian, no Georgian, no Polish.

The reason is simple. A forest of flags turns us into a "diaspora rally," and Article 100d disappears from the coverage. We stand in one queue at the same office, and that queue is not divided by passport — the provision applies to everyone regardless of citizenship, as the Supreme Administrative Court has confirmed.

3. Banners — on topic and in Polish

The language of banners is Polish. Journalists, passers-by and the officials in the building opposite need to understand us.

Content: repeal of Article 100d, compliance with the deadlines in the Code of Administrative Procedure, understaffing in the offices, actual waiting times, the taxes and contributions we pay. Personal stories — yes, if they are about deadlines and documents.

Do not bring banners with slogans about the politics of other countries.

4. The law and the police

The police on the square are there for our safety, not to obstruct us. Please treat officers correctly.

Strictly prohibited and an offence under Art. 52 § 2 of the Code of Petty Offences: weapons, explosives, pyrotechnics — flares, smoke devices, firecrackers. The penalty is detention of up to 14 days, restriction of liberty, or a fine. This is the most common reason a peaceful rally turns into an offence case.

Also not allowed: blocking the roadway, blocking building entrances, drinking alcohol.

5. Stewards

Volunteer stewards wear identifying armbands. Please do what they ask — they are responsible for keeping the assembly within the law.

If you are asked to move, to lower an off-topic banner, or not to approach the doors of the office, this is not fussiness — it is the organiser's statutory duty.

6. What happens if someone breaks the rules

No illusions here, because the statute is blunt on this point.

Step one. A steward or the organiser asks you to stop.

Step two. The organiser may demand that a person leave the assembly if that person is breaching the Law on Assemblies, or is preventing or attempting to frustrate the assembly. The demand is not subject to appeal.

Step three. If the person does not comply, the organiser calls on the police for assistance. The police remove them from the square.

Step four — and this one affects everyone. If participants do not comply with the organiser's instructions, or if the course of the assembly breaches the law, the organiser dissolves the assembly. Not "may" — must. This follows directly from the statute.

Which means: one person who decides to stage their own protest inside ours ends it for everyone else. No vote, no discussion — the assembly simply ends, and everyone is required to leave the square immediately.

Separately: a representative of the municipal authority may also dissolve the assembly if its course threatens life, health or property, or breaches the law.

And conversely — anyone who obstructs a lawful assembly is themselves committing an offence. That protects us from outside provocation.

7. Practical points

Come at 12:00. This matters more than it seems. A hundred people arriving together look like a hundred. The same hundred spread over two hours look like thirty.

Half an hour is enough. If you cannot stay to the end, come at the start, stay thirty minutes and leave. That is better than arriving at one o'clock and staying till the end.

Ends by 14:00.

If you have questions or doubts, write to the organisers in advance rather than sorting them out on the day.

Thank you for reading the rules. See you on the square.