Poland: Nationalists march against US law reinstating compensation for Jews

Thousands of Polish nationalists took to streets on Saturday (local time) to protest against a US law that demands compensation for Jews whose families lost property during the Holocaust.

The protesters, including various far-right groups and their supporters, marched to the Embassy of United States in Warsaw and chanted that Washington has no right to interfere in Polish affairs. Protestors also claimed that the US government is putting "Jewish interests" ahead of the interests of Poland, The Times of Israel reported.

Protesters targeted the US law S. 447, also known as the Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today (or JUST) Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump last year. The law requires the State Department to report to Congress on the state of restitution of Jewish property stolen in the Holocaust in dozens of countries.

Protestors said it is not fair to ask Poland, one of the victims of the Holocaust during World War II, to compensate Jewish victims when the country itself had never received adequate compensation from Germany.

Many of the properties of both the Jews and the non-Jews were destroyed during the world war and later nationalised by the communist regime that followed.

Meanwhile, Poland's governing right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party and the centrist opposition have downplayed the law, insisting that it will have no impact on Poland.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki also reiterated the protesters at the rally on Saturday, saying that it is Poles who deserve compensation.

The protest was one of the largest anti-Jewish street demonstrations in recent times.