WARSAW: Tens of thousands of Poles including nationalist opposition chiefs walked through Warsaw on Monday in an annual Independence Day event held by the far-right, some shooting red flares and carrying anti-EU, anti-Ukraine and white supremacist banners.

The march has become a point of friction between Poland’s hard-right and conservatives on one hand and the liberal centre, in power since a general election last year ended eight years of nationalist rule, on the other.

The government of Donald Tusk has been in power since December but its leftist and centre-right junior coalition members are struggling in opinion polls amid infighting over key campaign issues such as a return of abortion rights.

The far-right Confederation, whose politicians are among the event organisers, appears to have edged up since the election, now polling at around 12%, mirroring gains in parts of Europe in an anti-migration backlash.