Federation of Poles in Great Britain

Press Releases

Balham church incident

On April 12th the Federation of Poles in Great Britain, based in London, forwarded a letter to Dame Cressida Dick, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, strongly criticizing the interruption  of the Good Friday Holy Mass at the Christ the King RC Church in Balham in South London on April 2nd.

The one million strong Polish community had been appalled and shocked by the incident where a Metropolitan Police Officer walked into the church during the Good Friday service and ordered the Polish congregation under threat of a 200 pound fine to leave the building immediately,  because the officer deemed the Covid 19 restrictions in the church to be insufficient. Dr Włodzimierz Mier-Jędrzejowicz, President of the Federation of Poles, pointed out that the celebration of a mass "was not an illegal social gathering or a deliberate challenge to rules covering Covid 19". He believes that a more diplomatic solution to any possible transgression against current legislation could have been found. Polish congregations throughout the country take the need to  follow the national rules to protect their members against infection very seriously. 

The Federation of Poles in Great Britain CIO is a charity that has been the umbrella organization for all the major Polish social and cultural organizations in the UK since 1947.

For any further details please contact Wiktor Moszczynski, Federation Spokesman on 07786471833.

Letter to Metropolitan Police Commissioner