Refusing to Stay Silent: Polish Society Mobilizes Against Political Manipulation and Anti-Ukrainian Hate
Polish civil society is launching a coordinated effort to challenge state inaction over escalating xenophobia and anti-immigrant hostility. On Friday, activists from the civic movement Akcja Demokracja will formally deliver an emergency petition titled "Dość bierności państwa" ("Enough of State Inaction") to Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Signed by 10,638 citizens, the appeal directly targets the government's failure to confront the growing wave of aggression directed at non-citizens, particularly Ukrainian residents living across the country.
Rather than issuing generic calls for peace, the organizers have put forward four explicit legal and operational demands for the Polish administration mandatory, swift, and transparent criminal prosecution of all perpetrators of violent acts and hate crimes targeting foreigners; decisive enforcement and police action against illegal "citizens' patrols" and self-appointed vigilante groups harassing migrants in public spaces; direct public statements from senior government officials officially condemning systemic hate campaigns and anti-immigrant propaganda; the immediate release of a comprehensive state security framework specifically tailored to safeguard vulnerable minority communities from targeted violence.
"We are not asking whether the state condemns hatred. We are asking what specifically it will do to stop it," stated representatives from Akcja Demokracja ahead of the petition's delivery to the Prime Minister’s Office.
This is the prelude to a series of mass public actions. On Sunday, public solidarity rallies under the banner "Pokażmy, że jest nas więcej" ("Let Us Show That There Are More of Us") are scheduled across major Polish metropolitan centers, including Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław, Gdańsk, and Rzeszów. Organized by local non-governmental organizations, human rights defenders, and resident coalitions, these demonstrations aim to reclaim public spaces from nationalist agitators, demand accountability from law enforcement agencies, and show the Ukrainian diaspora that the silent majority of Polish society opposes ethnic hostility.
Escalating Violence: Police Records Confirm Surge in Hate Crimes
The civic mobilization comes amid a measurable spike in violence against Ukrainian nationals in Poland. Data provided by the National Police Headquarters (Komenda Główna Policji – KGP) to the daily newspaper Rzeczpospolita demonstrates a sharp upward trajectory in formal hate crime notifications over recent reporting cycles.
In 2024, Ukrainian citizens residing in Poland filed 267 formal reports regarding crimes motivated by national or ethnic hatred. In 2025, that figure rose to 275 cases. However, official data for the first half of 2026 reveals a dramatic acceleration: Ukrainian nationals submitted 180 formal notices of hate-motivated offenses in just six months.
This represents a year-over-year increase of over 30%, and a 35% rise compared to the same period in 2024. Law enforcement projections indicate that if this growth rate persists throughout the second half of the year, total reported hate crimes targeting Ukrainians could reach 360 cases by the end of 2026. Security analysts stress that these official figures capture only reported incidents; the actual frequency of verbal abuse, physical harassment, and intimidation remains significantly higher due to underreporting by victims who fear bureaucratic complications or social retaliation.
Political Fuel: Right-Wing Demagoguery, Misinformation, and Restrictive Platforms
Rather than seeking to defuse communal tensions, right-wing political factions in Poland are actively leveraging xenophobic sentiment to mobilize voters ahead of upcoming elections. This strategy relies both on the deliberate manipulation of crime statistics and on proposals for punitive state policies against foreign residents.
A prominent example of statistical manipulation occurred on platform X via a post published by Konrad Niżnik, a candidate running for parliament on the ticket of the radical right-wing party Konfederacja Korony Polskiej (Confederation of the Polish Crown). In a circulated video, Niżnik claimed that Ukrainians in Poland commit ten times more crimes per 1,000 residents than Polish citizens.
A detailed verification by the independent fact-checking organization Demagog exposed the statement as a complete distortion. Niżnik conflated two distinct metrics: the number of individuals registered on police wanted lists (poszukiwani) with the total number of actual crimes committed (przestępstwa).
Police statistics compiled between 2022 and 2025 reveal the opposite of Niżnik's claim: Among 37.24 million Polish citizens, police recorded 800,446 total crimes—yielding a crime rate of approximately 20 offenses per 1,000 Polish residents. Among the estimated 1.68 million Ukrainian residents in Poland, police recorded 17,027 total crimes—yielding a crime rate of approximately 10 to 11 offenses per 1,000 Ukrainian residents.
Despite official law enforcement data demonstrating that Polish citizens commit crimes at nearly double the per-capita rate of Ukrainian residents, misleading narratives falsely framing foreigners as a primary criminal threat continue to circulate widely on social media platforms.
Simultaneously, major right-wing political parties are translating these anti-immigrant narratives into formal campaign pledges. At a national security conference outlining the political platform of Law and Justice (PiS), party spokesman Tobiasz Bocheński presented a comprehensive policy framework titled "Stop Migracji" ("Stop Migration").
During his address, Bocheński framed foreign residency strictly as a revocable privilege rather than a legal status: "Immigration is not a right; it is the decision of the host whether to allow someone into their home temporarily or not."
The proposed PiS program introduces several sweeping administrative and law enforcement changes:
- Centralized Tracking and Immediate Expulsion: Creation of an integrated digital monitoring system tracking all interactions between foreign nationals and Polish state agencies. Any violation of administrative or legal rules will automatically initiate immediate deportation procedures coupled with an entry ban.
- State Deportation Infrastructure: Construction of dedicated state-run deportation facilities to streamline removals, alongside legal mechanisms enabling the central government to intervene in municipalities, housing cooperatives, and local districts to prevent the formation of immigrant neighborhoods or "parallel societies."
- State Control of Labor Permits: Removal of work permit issuance from free-market agencies and private enterprises, concentrating all labor authorizations within a single government ministry operating under discretionary state criteria.
- Expanded Border Force Regulations: Stiffer criminal penalties for unauthorized border crossings, combined with expanded legal protections authorizing border guards and military personnel to use firearms when encountering perceived security threats.
And how can we do without the Ukrainian topic? The party pledged to implement the mandatory deportation of draft-age Ukrainian men residing in Poland who are not legally employed, returning them to Ukraine to be drafted into military service.
Shifting Opinion: Sociological Tracking and Public Fatigue
The growth of anti-foreigner sentiment and political opportunism aligns with a broader shift in Polish public attitudes documented by sociological research. Studies conducted by the Public Opinion Research Center (CBOS) indicate a sustained decline in public empathy toward Ukrainian refugees compared to the initial post-2022 period.
Poles' attitudes toward accepting refugees from Ukraine are at their worst since 2014, the year of the Russian annexation of Crimea. For the first time, more Poles oppose accepting refugees from Ukraine than support it. At the same time, the majority believe that aid for Ukrainians is excessive.
Fewer and fewer Poles support Ukraine's immediate accession to the European Union, while the number of opponents of accession is growing. These are the worst results in three years.
This is the result of the decision of two presidents – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who in May named an elite military unit after the heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, considered war criminals by Poles during World War II. And Karol Nawrocki, the President of Poland, who for this reason in June stripped Zelensky of his highest state award, the Order of the White Eagle. Ultimately, the Ukrainian president returned the order to Nawrocki via postal service.
According to historians, in this way both presidents wanted to curry favor with nationalists in their countries, which led to the escalation of the conflict.
But let's get back to sociology.
Researchers asked about Poland's main goals in relations with Ukraine. 61% want security cooperation to be a clear priority in relations with Ukraine, and 46% want building good neighborly relations. However, only slightly fewer people cited commemorating the victims of the Volhynia Massacre, strengthening Poland's position as a leader in our region of Europe, and the participation of Polish companies in the reconstruction of Ukraine as key issues.
At the same time, few respondents considered Ukraine's accession to the European Union (9%) and support for Ukrainian refugees (7%) as priorities.
Eight in 10 Poles believe that Russia benefits from the Polish-Ukrainian dispute. In turn, 75% believe that Poland and Ukraine should primarily cooperate in the face of the threat from Russia, rather than focus on the issues that divide them. Because – and this is the opinion of 52% of respondents – Poland and Ukraine have more common goals and interests than divergent ones.
Source: Gazeta Wyborcza, Demagog, Rzeczpospolita