Deputy Speaker of the Sejm Marek Kuchciński participated in the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the social protest at the Stone Bridge in Przemyśl against the introduction of martial law on 31 August this year. The Speaker said, among other things: "It must be said directly that the protest at Stone Bridge was part of the great national liberation movement in Poland at that time.
According to Dr. Dariusz Iwaneczko ("Social resistance and the authorities in south-eastern Poland 1980-1989, IPN, Warsaw 2005) the course of these historical events was as follows:
The most spectacular undertaking of the Przemysl opposition was to join the nationwide action carried out on the initiative of the TKK (Temporary Coordinating Committee of the Solidarity Trade Union - editor's note) on the second anniversary of the signing of the agreements.
On 31 August 1982, a demonstration, preceded by an intensive leaflet action, was organised near the former headquarters of the South-Eastern Region on Kamienny Most in Przemyśl. After the end of work, groups of city residents began to gather in the vicinity of Stone Bridge.
Flowers were laid, patriotic and church songs were sung, and chants were chanted. Free Walesa, Solidarity. RKW (Regional Executive Commission of NSZZ "Solidarność" - note admin) considered the demonstration a great success and estimated the number of participants at about 6 thousand, while according to the authorities, about 3 thousand residents gathered, a large part of whom were people watching the developments.
At around sixteen o'clock the MO and ROMO troops appeared (in total there were 330 officers, including 130 militiamen, seventy operatives from the SB, twenty from the ORMO, thirty soldiers, eighty from ROMO) and surrounded the area of the demonstration. They then called for dispersal and attempted to disperse the crowd.
Chemicals were used, due to a malfunction, the water cannon could not be activated. Firemen refused to pour water on people. Law enforcement officers also attacked people who had nothing to do with the rally.
There were many cases of brutal beatings. A bridge over the San River was blocked and tear gas charges were thrown at people leaving a movie theater Baltic.”
The demonstration ended with a mass in the cathedral of Przemysl. The Mass was celebrated by the suffragan of Przemyśl, Bishop Tadeusz Blaszkiewicz, who during his sermon condemned the violence of the officers.
