Legia Warsaw winger Michał Kucharczyk flew into a rage after activists from the Last Generation (Ostatnie Pokolenie) brought traffic to a grinding halt on Sunday by staging a sit-down demonstration on the city’s Wisłostrada expressway.
Dramatic video footage shows the 33-year-old exchanging heated words with the group, which demands cheap access to public transport, saying: “There are sick people here and they need to go home.
“You are not the most important, do you understand that?”
He is then seen grabbing hold of one of them sitting on the road and dragging him away.
Kucharczyk, who won nine caps and scored once for the Polish national team between 2011 and 2015, told media outlet Polsat: “They should at least leave one lane open. They aren't the most important ones; there are sick people in cars who need to get home to take their medication.
“Because of them, now I don't know—something could happen to someone,” he said.
Last Generation have been staging regular protests, blocking the expressway since last Monday, demanding the Polish government change their transport policy.
Controversies
An investigation in 2023, spearheaded by Bavaria's central office for combating extremism and terrorism, alleged that the group was using its website to gather funds for criminal endeavors, amassing at least €1.4 million.
Additionally, two members of the group were accused of plotting an attack on an oil pipeline in Bavaria, German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported.
In 2022, Last Generation paid some activists up to €1,300 per month. The funds, sourced from the Climate Emergency Fund, a non-profit organization in the U.S. that also finances the Just Stop Oil group, were distributed by an organization named in Berlin named Wandelbündnis, Welt am Sonntag reported.
Last Generation also receives funds from private donations and Rote Hilfe, a group set up in 1920s Germany to provide help to jailed communists, Welt am Sonntag reported.
The group is most active in Germany, France, Italy, the U.K. and Poland.
