PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński speaking in front of the statue of Józef Piłsudski during the march Courtesy of Law and Justice

Former Polish prime minister and current leader of opposition party Law and Justice (PiS), Jarosław Kaczyński, led thousands of people in a march through Warsaw on Tuesday evening, with the aim of highlighting displeasure at the government's recent show of support for deeper integration among European states.

In November, Poland's Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski angered Mr Kaczyński and his supporters when he called for further centralization and federalization of the European Union during a speech in Berlin. And since then Prime Minister Donald Tusk has backed closer fiscal and economic union between EU member states, agreeing to embark on this path at last week's EU summit.

PiS organized a protest march on the symbolic date of December 13 – the 30th anniversary of the imposition of martial law in Poland.

And PiS supporters were quick to voice their displeasure at the men they see as being at the forefront of a drive to cede Polish sovereignty to Brussels and Berlin, with shouts of “Tusk to Berlin” and “Sikorski traitor of the nation,” rising up from the assembled crowd.

The march, which began at 6 pm at the capital's Pl. Trzech Krzyży, was preceded by the reading of the names of those Poles who lost their lives during the period of martial law. After this the marchers made their way to a statue of former Polish chief of state Józef Piłsudski, who is considered by many to be a symbol of Polish sovereignty.

In a speech to those assembled Mr Kaczyński said that “It is hard to imagine a situation more dangerous, than when representatives of democratic countries are beginning to pay homage to other countries.”

“This is a shame, an abuse and a violation of the constitution. For that reason we cannot agree,” he added.

Referring specifically to Mr Tusk's support for the new EU measures, Mr Kaczyński said: “This undermines our status as a sovereign state, our position, our dignity … We can't agree to this. We can't, we can't and we won't.”