Wood memorial cross to president Lech Kaczynski to remain

SUPPORTERS of Poland's late president Lech Kaczynski yesterday forced Warsaw authorities to abandon the planned removal of a large wooden cross erected in front of the presidential palace in his memory.

Mr Kaczynski, his wife Maria and 94 others were killed in a plane crash in Russia on 10 April.

The cross, erected by a Scouting group after the crash, has become the centre of a de facto shrine to the dead, festooned with flowers and candles.

The plan to move the cross to a nearby church had upset and angered Mr Kaczynski's Catholic core supporters. Security guards scuffled with some protesters and briefly detained an elderly woman who tried to tie herself to the cross, before retreating.