Disabled families' parliament protest continues

Protest enters sixth day in parliament: photo - PAP/Jacek Turczyk

The families have called for better disability benefits and services in Poland.

On Sunday the families wrote a letter to First Lady Komorowska: "We are waiting for you - you are our only hope," it said.

A spokeswoman at the Presidential Palace said the president's wife had "empathy" for the families but said the matter had to be dealt with by relevant ministries.

Leader of the Solidarity trade union Piotr Duda met with the protesters on Monday morning, and called for the level of disability benefit in Poland to be calculated by the average wage, not the minimum.

The government says that state expenditure on families with disabled members had risen from half a billion zloty (120 million euro) in 2007 to 1.7 billion zloty (40 million euro) in 2013.

Some of the families left the protest and returned home on Saturday after a meeting with Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who promised a new bill on disability care.

Only one child is currently sleeping with their parents at the sit-in protest at the parliament building, with children of other parents visiting in the day time. (pg)

source: PAP