60,000 people in Poland held one of the largest far-right marches in Europe ever

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60,000 people in Poland held one of the largest far-right marches in Europe ever

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Warsaw far right march traditional clothes

Czarek Sokolowski/AP

60,000 people including many white nationalists invoked Polish history and traditions on the country's independence day to rally against refugees and Islam.

On the 99th anniversary of Poland regaining its independence at the end of World War I last Saturday, 60,000 people participated in what was likely the largest far-right protest in Europe yet, with some participants touting white nationalist banners and slogans and equating Islam with terrorism. 

Organized by a variety of far-right groups in Poland, the march was met by several thousand anti-fascist demonstrators, who claim their counterprotest is the largest of its kind since 2011.

Ever since 2015 when the right-wing Law and Justice Party gained control of several branches of government in elections that year, far-right Independence Day demonstrations like the one last weekend have steadily grown in size, and have by many accounts been tacitly endorsed by the ruling government.

Here's a rundown of the events surrounding the largest right-wing gathering in Europe since World War II:

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