成千上萬波蘭民衆抗議政府司法改革

More protests against a new judiciary law are expected across Poland Wednesday as thousands march against what they say is the right-wing government's plans to take over the courts.

Thousands waving Polish and European Union flags and shouting slogans demanding free courts demonstrated in Warsaw and other Polish cities Tuesday.

Under a new law that lowers the mandatory retirement age for justices, more than a third of Supreme Court justices will be forced into retirement Wednesday. They include Supreme Court President Malgorzata Gersdorf, a strong critic of the ruling conservative Law and Justice party. She calls it a "purge conducted in the Supreme Court ... under the pretext of the retrospective change in retirement age."

Nobel Prize-winning Solidarity founder Lech Walesa said he will be among those marching Wednesday, saying he is ready to "lead a physical removal of the main perpetrator of all misfortune" -- a reference to Law and Justice party chief Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Walesa did not elaborate on what he meant by "physical removal."

The government says changes to the judiciary are necessary, saying many of the rules date back to the days of communism.預計波蘭各地星期三將發生更多針對一項新法律的抗議活動。成千上萬波蘭民衆舉行示威，反對他們所稱的右翼政府控制法院的計劃。

星期二，華沙和其它城市數以千計的示威民衆揮舞波蘭和歐盟旗幟，呼喊要求維護法院獨立的口號。

波蘭的一項新法律降低了法官的法定退休年齡，三分之一最高法院的法官星期三將被迫退休，其中包括首席法官格爾斯多夫。格爾斯多夫法官是對保守的執政黨法律正義黨的猛烈批評的人士，她稱這項法律是“以實施有追溯效力改變退休年齡的法律在最高法院進行的清洗”。

諾貝爾和平獎得主、團結工會創始人瓦文薩說，他將參加星期三的遊行示威，還說要領導一場運動，“切實根除罪惡之源”。他是指法律正義黨主席卡欽斯基。瓦文薩沒有詳細解釋他講的“切實根除”。

波蘭政府說，必須進行司法改革，很多規定還是當年共產黨當政時制定的。