Around 5,000 Polish youths wearing military uniform and carrying Kalashnikov replicas marched through Warsaw Thursday

Youths march through Warsaw on Soviet invasion anniversary


Warsaw (AFP) - Around 5,000 Polish youths wearing military uniform and carrying Kalashnikov replicas marched through Warsaw Thursday, pledging to come to their country's aid if necessary amid concern over Russian activity in neighbouring Ukraine.

The unprecedented rally took place 76 years to the day after the Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland at the start of World War II -- just weeks after Nazi Germany attacked the country from the west.

"Peace is never a given once and for all," said Karolina Ratajczak of the national Federation of Pro-Defence Organisations, which has around 10,000 members.

"We should always be ready to repel an attack," she told AFP in the crowd of teenagers.

Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak was also there. His ministry began providing the paramilitary organisations funding and equipment after security fears swept through the country over Russia's Crimea annexation and backing of pro-Moscow separatists in Ukraine.

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