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 Polish Police Abandon Hunt For 'Gay Bomber'
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: September 13, 2007 - 7:00 pm ET
(Warsaw) Polish police say they are dropping
the hunt for whoever was behind a series of bombs which later turned out to be
fakes that were discovered in four cities in the days leading up to the 2005
presidential election.
The devices were discovered after anonymous phone
calls to police from someone claiming to be from an organization called the Gay
Power Brigade.
Thirteen devices were found in Warsaw. Police
said that the "bombs" were sophisticated and it took bomb squad
experts some time to realize they were not dealing with real explosives.
Similar dummy bombs also were discovered in train
stations in Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot.
The discoveries caused panic in the streets of
all four cities.
In a lengthy manifesto sent to Warsaw newspapers
and wire services the Gay Power Brigade condemned Warsaw Mayor Lech Kaczynski,
who was running for president.
Kaczynski had weeks earlier banned Pride
organizers from holding a gay pride parade. More than 2,500 people ignored the
order and marched through the Polish capital anyway. (story)
"You paralyze our life, we'll paralyze
yours," the Gay Power Brigade statement said.
The bomb scare was in part credited with
Kaczynski's election.
But as police began to investigate they
discovered there was no such organization as the Gay Power Brigade, and liberals
and members of Poland's LGBT community suggested the whole bomb scare was a plat
by Kaczynski's Law and Justice party to gain power.
The hoax phone calls to police were traced to a
disposable cell phone. The emailed "manifesto" came from a computer at
an internet cafe. A hazy picture of a man leaving the cafe was said to have been
the likely perpetrator but he has never been identified.
Over the past two years police have questioned
dozens of people but have been unable to make an arrest.
©365Gay.com 2007
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