Poland marks the centenary of its national renaissance at the end of the First World War | News from the world

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA and VANESSA GERA, Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) – The President, the Prime Minister and other Polish politicians led Sunday Independence Day as part of the centenary celebrations, followed by a huge crowd led by groups nationalists.

Some 200,000 people marched in Warsaw to mark the 100th anniversary of Poland's rebirth as an independent state at the end of the First World War, according to a first estimate by the police.

President Andrzej Duda, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and the leader of the ruling conservative party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, walked in a crowd in front of soldiers carrying a huge flag with the words "For You Poland".

Another crowd of nationalists and their supporters were walking a short distance behind them, many of them burning firecrackers, flames and fires, creating flashes of red light and smoke.

Most of the members of this contingent wore national flags, but some wore flags of the radical National Radical Camp, a far right group and one of the main organizers of the march. The camp flag bears a falanga, a far-right symbol dating back to the 1930s from a stylized hand with a sword.

There were also some flags of Forza Nuova, an Italian group whose leader, Roberto Fiore, describes himself as a fascist.

Among the slogans cited by the participants were "United States, Evil Empire" and "White and Catholic Poland". Members of a nationalist group, Young Poles, burned a flag of the European Union.

Over the last decade, nationalist organizations organized Independence Day parades on 11 November, including racist slogans, flares and, over the years, acts of aggression.

This year, in honor of the centenary, state officials sought to hold a large government-run march for Sunday's ceremonies. Initially, negotiations over requests to leave the banners at home were broken, but an agreement on a joint march was reached on Friday.

Duda and the government have been criticized by liberal opposition politicians for their willingness to negotiate with the nationalists, including some who have made anti-Semitic comments. After some people sported extremist emblems, state officials – surrounded by security – seemed to be trying to stay away from the nationalists, preceding them on the same path.

But at the beginning of the march, Duda said: "Let it be our common walk, be it a walk for everyone, a walk where everyone wants to be and who feels good, walk for Poland."

While the Polish president spoke, he was sometimes obscured by the thick smoke of the torches.

Throughout the day, solemn ceremonies and Masses were held in cities and small towns to commemorate the restoration of the state of the nation after 123 years of foreign rule.

The national flag fluttered in buildings, buses and cars, dignitaries and ordinary citizens laid flowers on the memorials of the father of Polish independence, Marshal Jozef Pilsudski. Sigismund's historic bell, reserved for the most important national events, rang over Krakow.

Bartlomiej Mazur, a 23-year-old participant from March, who traveled 320 km to the capital, said he wanted to show that "Poland is a strong and proud country.We have the freedom and the right to protest our feelings and pride in our country. "

The ceremonies in Poland coincide with the meeting of world leaders in Paris on Sunday to mark a century since the armistice of what was then called the Great War.

Poland regained its independence at the end of the First World War in 1918, reborn from the ashes of three defeated powers – Russia, Germany and Austria – who separated and ruled the nation of Europe central for more than a century.

Throughout its occupation, the Roman Catholic Church has played a key role in preserving the language and identity of Poland.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.