WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Outrage over plans by Poland's governing party to put the judicial system under its political control sparked another day of nationwide protests Saturday, with some people gathering outside the home of ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski and accusing him of being a dictator.
Polish democracy icon and former President Lech Walesa addressed a protest in Gdansk, urging young Poles to fight to preserve the separation of powers his Solidarity movement helped to achieve more than a quarter century ago when Poland threw off communist rule.
Later, thousands of government opponents gathered in Warsaw, Krakow and other cities to urge President Andrzej Duda to reject legislation that would give Law and Justice, the conservative ruling party, control of the Supreme Court and the judiciary.
"We are all in danger. Every citizen is in danger now," said Tomasz Gromadka, a 32-year-old playwright protesting in front of the home of Kaczynski, who is the power behind the government and presidency. "Because now they are taking the courts, then they will take the media, they will take everything. But we still have the streets. This is our power. I think we should do whatever we can."
The European Union and many international legal experts said the changes would mark a dramatic reversal for a country has been hailed as a model of democratic transition over the past quarter century and move Poland closer toward authoritarianism.
The party "is about to finish democracy," said Ewa Krasucka, a 32-year-old photographer. "Honestly, I don't think we will stop him now, but at least in 10 years, in 15 years, when we will still be with these people in the government, I will feel good with myself for being here now."
Many of the protesters then moved to the Supreme Court, where people sang John Lennon's "Imagine" and held up candles.