Yesterday, the President of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, called on the government to renounce the use of warning sirens for the commemoration of the Presidential plane tragedy in Smolensk on April 10, 2010. The request comes as over 330,000 refugees are currently sheltering in the capital, including 120,000 children. The aim of this action is to protect an already traumatized population. He later published several tweets, especially this one:

“I still appeal to cancel the sirens on April 10. Out of empathy towards over 300,000 people who ended up in Warsaw, escaping the nightmare of which this sound was part. I am afraid that common sense will not win here, but the whim of one president.” 

But, this morning, the warning sirens sounded for a dozen of minutes.

10 kwietnia najpewniej usłyszymy syreny w @warszawa. Wojewoda może uruchomić je z pominięciem miasta (w stolicy mamy zintegrowany system zbudowany lata temu, kiedy takie sytuacje jak dzisiejsza nam się nawet nie śniły…). Cały czas apeluję o rozsądek. O empatię. O ciszę.

— Rafał Trzaskowski (@trzaskowski_) April 9, 2022

On April 19th, each year, in order to commemorate the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, the sirens are turned on, but this year in order to respect the refugees, the system will not be activated.