Jarosław Kaczyński was cheered during his speech Courtesy of PiS

Tuesday's official celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of the August Agreements ended in scandal with accusations hurled by some participants and Prime Minister Donald Tusk being booed loudly during the event.

It all started when the PM was about to start his speech.

He was greeted with jeers from the crowd.

“Because I expected such a reaction, I thought I would be a good person to speak honestly about what has happened to us in the last 30 years. There used to be 10 million people in Solidarity, what happened to the nine million who are not there today?” asked Mr Tusk.

This elicited even louder jeers from the crowd and some of the delegates walked out ostentatiously.
The PM added that the old Solidarity welcomed all with open arms and forgave differences of opinion.

“The real Solidarity ruled out hatred,” he said.

When opposition party Law and Justice (PiS) leader Jarosław Kaczyński approached the podium, he was greeted with loud cheers as the “new” Solidarity openly supports his economically left-leaning party.

Incidentally Mr Kaczyński himself was not with the striking workers at the Gdańsk shipyard. His late brother, President Lech Kaczyński was though, and the PiS leader said he was speaking in his name.

He started out by saying that freedom in Poland today was “flawed, with privileges for some and discrimination for others.”

“You can't manipulate people and cheat them. You can't twist the meaning of words and and that is being done by some in this hall today.”

After Mr Kaczyński's speech Henryka Krzywonos, a legendary Solidarity opposition member unexpectedly took to the stage and lambasted Mr Kaczyński for his speech saying he was ruining the good memory of his brother and insulting people in the hall.

Her words were met with loud boos from the participants.

“I regret having attended. I have seen many such congresses and heard many bitter words against the government but I have never seen anything like this,” said Bogdan Borusewicz, current Senate Speaker and one of the leaders of the 1980 strike.

The anniversary was also attended by President Bronisław Komorowski, European Parliament President Jezry Buzek and the Ambassador of the United States of America.

Lech Wałęsa didn't attend the event.

“What happened confirmed my expectations. It's an irresponsible trade union, which doesn't know how to behave in a cultured way,” said the legendary leader.