Polish minority protests in Lithuania
Polish minority in Lithuania start protests on Friday, September 2nd in Lithuania.
People have appealed to the Equal Rights Ombudsmen to repeal education legislation which they claim is discriminatory towards those from a Polish background in the Baltic state.Poles are the largest minority in Lithuania, where they constitute approximately 6.7% of the population of this country.
The new Education Act gives powers to local Lithuanian governments to close a school in districts where there exist two schools – one with classes in Lithuanian and the other in Polish – if one of them does not have a required minimum of pupils.
New legislation has triggered strong protest from the Polish community, especially from the Vilnius district where most live.
The Forum of Polish School Children’s Parents has gathered over 60,000 signatures under a petition demanding an annulment of the new regulations.
The Polish minority also claim they face linguistic discrimination in Lithuania, where local authorities refuse to use bilingual road signs in the outskirts of Vilnius, which are densely inhabited by Poles.
Source: Thenews.pl