Most Poles object to burying dead president alongside country’s heroes and royalty

WARSAW - The funeral of Polish President Lech Kaczynski has run into controversy, with a section of the population contesting the move to bury him at Wawel Castle in Krakow alongside the country’s heroes and royalty.

Plans are afoot to bury Kaczynski, who died in a plane crash in Russia, in the cathedral crypt in the grounds of Wawel Castle, in Krakow, the equivalent of burying a British prime minister in Westminster Abbey.

Poles in Warsaw and Krakow are protesting against the move, as Kaczynski was unpopular among many Poles.

According to The Telegraph, this is the first sign of a crack in the call for national unity following the air crash in which Kaczynski, his wife and 93 of Poland’s top political and military leaders were killed.

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow has consented to a request from the Kaczynski family that the presidential couple be buried in Wawel Cathedral after Sunday’s funeral, which will be attended by the Prince of Wales, who will represent Britain, President Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president.

Wawel contains the graves of Polish royalty and the country’s wartime leader, General Wladyslaw Sikorski.

Kaczynski had only a 30 per cent approval rating in recent months, and was widely expected to be voted out of office in September elections.

Kaczynski and his colleagues were flying to a memorial service for the Second World War Katyn massacre when the plane crashed in Smolensk, western Russian.

The Telegraph quoted Grzegorz Kosmala, a Warsaw public relations executive, as saying: “I’m really sorry for President Kaczynski’s death, but Wawel is not the place for him. When he was in office, President Kaczynski appeared to act on behalf of the opposition party led by his twin brother. He divided Poles.” (ANI)