Demonstration 23 July 2022 Wrocław st.Traugutta 94
“One, big, NO. It’s been two months since the rape at the cancer station at 94 Traugutta Street. Has the help provided to Agnes come from state institutions? No. What does the police defend, if not the interests of its own and employers? Is the police an institution worthy of? No. Do the police respect human rights? No. Not that it’s worth it, but it should even be mentioned that the rapist is paid from our taxes! The policeman – murderer of Igor Stachowiak was sentenced after 1000 days, three years after the murder. Similar situations at police stations in Wrocław were the case of Igor Stachowiak during these three years? How many situations have taken place so far? How many in the whole country at that time? Police violence is a fact! It is not the police that will help you, but the close circle of friends , collectives or non-governmental organizations. ” – underlines one of the speakers during the demonstration.
“Another month, two or a quarter passes without basic justice! The person who raped Agnes, and the associates who remained silent about the aggression, still walk by. Covering up the violence is complicity and is almost as cruel as the attack itself.”
The spontaneous demonstration, which took place on July 23 at 17:00 at the police station at 94 Traugutta Street, went safely. Police officers surrounded the police station building against the walls, but not blocking the main entrance. They also did not approach the demonstrators standing a few meters from the police station, in front of it. Violence was not visible from the police and demonstrators. A speech was read out, pointing to the passivity of actions related to justice for Agnes and recalling the situation of Igor Stachowiak and the trial of the policemen at the time, the murderers. A letter from Agnes and excerpts from Maja Staśko’s article entitled: “Why didn’t he kill me?” Banners with the words “Agnes – you will not go alone”, “Police murder” were shown. Anarcho-feminist flags were also displayed. Leaflets explaining the reason for the demonstration at this place were distributed to passers-by, as well as pasted around with posters explaining the same. Leaflets and posters include the link to the website “carnations.noblogs.org”. The counter-demonstration, a registered, next to the site of an anti-police demonstration, was not linked to a spontaneous demonstration. The anti-police demonstrators expressed that they disagreed with the speech of the person leading the one-person counter-demonstration. The end of the spontaneous demonstration was also quiet, without major and serious police actions. During the spontaneous demonstration, no person participating in the demonstration was identified.
“Hi, I am Agnes.
I am Igor Stachowiak
I am a raped person
I am a beaten person
I am a mentally disturbed person I am a sick person (…)
I am a survivor with many many wounds. More than a month has passed and I am still fighting for myself. I’m afraid to say my name, I have to put the bag over my head so that I won’t be recognized. Look left and right. Maybe I’m standing next to you. I can be any of us. I could have been you” – Agnes writes in the letter.
Maja Staśko informs in her article “Why did he not kill me?”: “From the beginning of the month, Agnes felt worse and worse, in the last days before the arrest they had a nervous breakdown. They does not go to psychotherapy, because despite full-time work, there is no money for it because of the cost of living in Poland.”.
“I have to hide because I am afraid that someone will recognize me on the street and challenge me, saying that I am due because I am only a stupid thief. I’m afraid that people will evaluate my health and life at PLN 21 and one broken mirror. I’m afraid the police will arrest me for whatever they want. I am afraid that, as I said it, now the state and the police will do everything possible to silence me. (…) Let’s not let them sweep things under the rug once again.” – urges Agnes in her letter.
Maja Staśko in the article quotes excerpts from her conversation with Agnes:
“That day I was with my friend, after the party. At 5:00 p.m. the next day, May 26, I tried to steal a bottle of vodka, the so-called monkey, at the Aldi store. Normally I wouldn’t, I don’t steal alcohol from the store. When the security guard caught me, I didn’t admit it. An employee came over and started yanking me to make me take the bottle out from behind my jacket. She said I had to give back the vodka. “Want? You have it! ” I said and I threw the bottle. It crashed with a crash.”
“You don’t even know how much effort I had to put into telling what happened. I don’t have any more, I used it all to read an article about me, every now and then, because new amendments were made every now and then. About telling more and more doctors about it, other friends who wanted to help. I just don’t have the strength anymore, but it worked. I told all of you that I was raped and beaten. A lot of people don’t believe me, they call me bullshit, junkies, crazy, bastards. There are hundreds of comments in which I am accused of lying because I have a personality disorder.” – Agnes explains in a letter.
“After breaking the mirror, I calmed down again, waiting for an ambulance – says Agnes. – I kept saying that I needed ambulance, that I was sick, that I had no control over myself, I had panic attacks and hysteria. Suddenly two men lunged at me. (…) I only remember how they tugged at my clothes. I screamed not to touch me because I didn’t know who they were. Another thing I was able to say was, “You’re strangling me.” I did it three or four times. After I regained my voice and was able to breathe, I told my friend next me to record. I asked them to give names, ranks, police station. And they said nothing. One policeman was pressing his knee to the ground, and the other was handcuffing my hands. (…) When they were choking me and shuffling me on the asphalt, one of them was touching my buttocks. I said he was harassing me. They didn’t react. As they threw me in the car, they hit my head on the threshold. I had a huge bruise on my forehead.” – Agnes reports in an interview with Maja Staśko.
“In the interrogation room at the police station, they’ve been beating me for hours, pushed me, ridiculed me, and humiliated me. They refuse access to the doctor or the phone to my mother. When they leave me alone with the policeman, he says he associates me with the protests. And that I’m such a fighting feminist because nobody really fucked me. Then he rapes me. (…) If I weren’t with my friends, I would have been gone for a long time. “Another fatality at the Wroclaw police station” – you would read the headlines. But I’m alive and I want to tell my story.” – Maja Staśko quotes the words of Agnes.
“The Polish police, the government and all those who spit at us from above, using the word of democracy, have shown more than once how they give us a shit. They have used violence against us more than once. We have been raped, beaten and killed more than once. Nowadays, in Poland we have no laws that would protect us. Lawlessness, violence and exploitation. We have it. Enough of this. I want all of us to be Agnes. Stop being afraid to speak. Time to go get yours. Time to allow yourself to take our rights. It’s time to plant meadows on this mountain of injustice. Please, enough allowing the violence. I’m so sick of it. I no longer have the strength to read about further rape, death, exploitation, beatings, injustice and about the human suffering we experience in this country.” – Agnes writes in her letter.
“The Police Headquarters informs, in response to the parliamentary intervention, that conducting additional control activities would be pointless. The press officer still did not respond to the inquiries of OKO.press.” – Maja Staśko points out the lack of communication on the part of the police.
https://oko.press/agnes-oskarza-policje-o-gwalt-co-sie-stalo-we-wroclawskim-komisariacie/
Photos by Krzysztof Zatycki.