Polish violence threatens visit

Jonathan Petre examines Polish des and fears for the Pope's visit
AS VIOLENCE erupted once again this week onto the streets of Warsaw, Pope John Paul's visit to Poland, scheduled for June 16.22, was again in the balance.
The military government's reaction is always unpredictable, but only last month the regime warned Solidarity's underground leadership that antigovernment demonstrations on May I could jeopardise the trip. An April 19 communique issued jointly by the government and the Communist Party Politburo said that any disturbances would "cast a shadow over the preparation for, and put into question, the conditions necessary for a papal visit."
Although Cardinal Jozef Glemp, primate of Poland, has over the past few months distanced himself from those calling for organised anti-government protest, General Wojciech Jaruzelski — threatened by the first serious Solidarity opposition for six months — will not see the demonstrations in isolation.
Catholic churches were the gathering places of many of the marches in 20 Polish cities. In Warsaw 10,000 people gathered outside the cathedral at the edge of the Old Town where they chanted pro-Solidarity slogans and waved banners before being dispersed by police with water cannon.
The authorities, it would appear, are desperately seeking any excuse to cancel the Pope's visit which would avoid provoking the Polish people as a whole into opposition under the Solidarity banner. Cardinal Glemp is acutely aware of the problem. He has recently expressed his concern that opposition spilling onto the streets will be used by the government as just such an excuse.
In a significant interview with an Italian publication, II Sabato. in April, he called for calm and dialogue in preparation for the visit and warned that there were both pro-government and anti-government agitators who would attempt to disturb public order to sabotage the visit.
"There are some who are discontented with this trip, for example in the old structure of the (Communist) party. And perhaps, also within the sector of the opposition, there are those who see in the visit of the Holy Father a support for the government," he said.
More recently he admitted his disappointment that the Church's efforts to mediate have proved so unproductive, even though he has hinted in the past that progress towards reconciliation was an important, if not essential, precondition for the papal visit.
The present regime must be particularly wary of the influence of the Pope after his visit in June 1979 when he was highly critical of government programmes and supported the need for independent labour organisations. Many observers see this as the single most important stimulus of the formation of Solidarity a year later.