Anxious about refugees, Polish cities reject memorial sirens

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA
Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Anxious about the wellbeing of Ukrainian refugees, city mayors across Poland are refusing the government’s instructions to sound air raid sirens as part of memorial observances for a 2010 presidential plane crash. Poland’s right-wing government wants the sirens to go off at 0641 GMT Sunday, the exact time the plane crashed in Russia 12 years ago. The crash killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 other prominent Poles. Kaczynski was the twin of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is Poland’s key politician. But city mayors are refusing to sound the air raid sirens, saying it will be unnecessary trauma for those who recently fled Russian bombings in Ukraine. More than 2.5 million refugees from Ukraine have sought security in Poland.