Flags outside European Union institutions in Brussels were lowered to half-staff on Sunday in solidarity with Poland following the shooting in Kraków. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola stressed that Kraków is an unyielding city.
Polish and EU flags were also lowered outside Poland’s diplomatic offices in Brussels: the Polish Embassy in Belgium and the Permanent Representation of Poland to the EU.
The president of the European Parliament announced the lowering of the flags on Sunday in a post in Polish on the platform X. “The European Parliament stands with Poland in mourning. Kraków. The Unyielding City,” she wrote.
Metsola, who visited Poland on Thursday and Friday, was the first to react to Saturday’s shooting in Kraków, expressing solidarity with the Polish people. European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also expressed solidarity on Saturday.
The European Union flags are also at half-staff on Sunday outside those two institutions, the European Commission and the European Council.
On Saturday afternoon, a masked 24-year-old drove a car into Kraków’s Rynek, the Main Square, and opened fire on people there. He was wounded in an exchange of fire with police and detained. Six people were killed in the attack and 16 were injured. Two police officers are among the injured.
Since midnight, under a decision by President Karol Nawrocki, a two-day period of national mourning has been in effect in Poland.
From Brussels, Magdalena Cedro (PAP)
