Polish nationalists vandalise Lithuanian signs

Anna Wierzchowska, chief prosecutor in Sejny, told journalists that the investigation is looking into the defacing of a public monument and scrawling nationalist symbols on it.

Regional authorities have also called up a investigative task force to look into the crimes, including police forces, border guards, as well as the Internal Security Agency. The event was also condemned by the Polish foreign ministry.

The Borough of Punsk is 80 percent populated by Lithuanians, with all road signposts written in both Polish and Lithuanian. Twenty-eight such signposts were vandalised in 14 villages, with the Lithuanian spelling spray-painted out with white and red bands.

A monument in Punsk was also vandalised with white and red paint, including a Falanga (pictured left), a 16th century Polish symbol containing an outstretched arm brandishing a sword, and used nowadays as a radical nationalist symbol. Falanga also leant its name to a fascist organisation in Poland before World War II. (jb)

Source: PAP