Latest news with #Maly
Telegraph
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
On patrol with Poland's ultra-nationalist border vigilantes
Binoculars in hand and slathered with homemade bug spray, Maly and Marius head into the wilderness, their eyes peeled for any sign of asylum seekers in the woods of north-west Poland. As they creep along the border with Germany, Maly scans the treeline while Marius checks the ground for footprints. With no migrants in sight, the pair end the patrol and return to their campsite to swap shifts with other volunteers near Stolec, a village by the Krzyz Barnima border crossing. Then a cyclist appears, and Marius gives him a friendly look. Sometimes, he says, locals come over to congratulate them for defending Europe's borders. 'Get a real job!' the cyclist shouts in Polish as he furiously rides away. Suffice to say, this was no ordinary ride-along with Polish border guards – Maly and Marius are vigilantes, the self-appointed guardians of a remote stretch of woodland on the Polish-German border that they say is so badly protected they need to do it themselves. Over the past fortnight, 'citizens' patrol' groups have sprung up across Poland as part of an escalating diplomatic spat with the German government, under which Friedrich Merz, the country's chancellor, is turning away asylum seekers from its land borders. The decision has caused outrage among Polish Right-wingers and some border communities, who claim that their side of the frontier risks becoming a dumping ground for rejected asylum seekers and illegal migrants. In an attempt to placate the vigilantes, Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, this month deployed armed border guards to all 52 crossings with Germany, including the spot where Maly and Marius conduct their patrols. But the gesture seems to have backfired – the vigilantes have now declared a David-and-Goliath style victory over the Polish government, and are vowing to keep up the patrols unless further demands are met. While the volunteers here say they are an apolitical grassroots organisation, the wider 'citizens' patrol' movement appears to be driven by the Polish hard-Right, and in particular Robert Bakiewicz, a nationalist activist. Since the patrols started, Mr Bakiewicz and other Right-wing activists have flooded the internet with viral videos, which purportedly show German police vans secretly dropping off unwanted migrants on the Polish side of the border. In an interview with The Telegraph, Mr Bakiewicz accused the German government of waging 'hybrid warfare' on Poland by pushing back asylum seekers, echoing the West's term for Russian sabotage attacks on Nato allies. 'As you know, the Russians have been trying to destabilise the situation by pushing migrants from the east,' he said, referring to the influx of migrants from Belarus, and more recently, Belarus via Lithuania. 'Now the Germans are doing the same to us, and because our government is Germany-friendly, they allow it to happen.' Mr Bakiewicz claimed Germany's actions were rooted in jealousy of Poland's vast economic success over the past few decades. 'Poland is getting stronger and stronger, and this is their way of making Poland weaker,' he said. Germany denies that its new border policies are unlawful. Some vigilantes believe they have managed to stop German border forces from sending asylum seekers back to Poland. 'We've seen German police vans with tinted windows coming to the border, most likely full of asylum seekers,' says one 51-year-old patrol member, also named Marius, who works as a welder in the Stolec area. 'When they saw us, the car turned around. In my opinion, we scared them away.' Patricia, 45, another volunteer who patrols the forests surrounding Stolec, adds: 'We consider it a success because we forced the government to do something. But the government has only sent the guards here for 30 days, and we are afraid after that the roads will be empty. So we still patrol. We want the controls to be permanent.' In May, Mr Merz ordered his border guards to turn back asylum seekers under pressure from the far-Right, anti-migrant Alternative for Germany party, which came second in last February's elections and is now the de facto opposition. The chancellor has also faced public anger over a string of recent terror attacks in Germany committed by asylum seekers facing deportation orders. Some vigilantes say this is a key part of their motivation – they fear that Germany is pushing mentally ill or extremist asylum seekers onto their side of the border, who may then commit similar atrocities. Back at the border near Stolec, Maly and Marius have allowed The Telegraph to join them for another sortie on the condition that their faces and surnames are not published. While they insist they are not breaking the law, the Polish government has threatened to prosecute anyone suspected of impersonating border guards or hindering their work. During that patrol, the pair once again found no migrants, though they did lead The Telegraph to a clearing where soiled clothing was strewn on the ground. 'We think maybe this was a meeting point with smugglers where they changed their clothes and left,' says Maly. 'But we are not sure if they were coming into Poland or going to Germany.' Standing at the patrol's makeshift headquarters, a green gazebo full of high-viz jackets, coffee mugs and water bottles, next to a border checkpoint manned by Polish soldiers with assault rifles, Marius later says: 'We get on well with the border guards, there is no hostility.' The vigilantes' presence seems to be tolerated by two young border guards on the crossing, perhaps because they are too busy flagging down drivers to check their passports and inspect their car boots. Many of the drivers seem far from happy about the checks, which have been imposed mainly to appease the vigilante border patrols. 'I've always felt strongly about security at the border,' says Marius, 'but many Polish people are hostile to us. The country is very divided, and they are not thinking about the well-being of Poland – they are thinking about ideology.' As the end of the week draws near, more vigilantes turn up at the checkpoint, hoping to join in. Among them is Maksymilian Katarzynski, a teenager who has dressed up in tactical-style fatigues with the Polish flag on the epaulettes. Viewed from a distance, he could easily be mistaken for a Polish border guard, and that seems to be the idea. But the 19-year-old says he is not worried about the legal consequences because he is acting out of patriotism. 'If we see any illegal persons, we will apprehend them and take them to border control,' he says, as he sets up a tent near the border checkpoint with a 'no illegal immigration' banner. 'I'm here as a duty to my society.' While there is no doubt that asylum seekers are active on the German-Polish border, official statistics suggest the numbers are low compared to other migration routes in Europe. In mid-May, when the new German border rules were introduced, the total number of people requesting asylum at Germany's nine land borders was recorded as between two and 13 per day, peaking on May 17. In total, 105 asylum seekers were rejected from Germany's land borders during that period, with only 28 of those rejections taking place at the Polish-German border. By comparison, as many as 1,100 migrants have been known to cross the English Channel on small boats in a single day. Critics of the vigilantes say this means they are over-reacting to the problems at the border, and that their work potentially risks benefiting their arch-foe Russia, which revels in spreading disinformation across Europe, particularly around migration. The flood of public anger about poor border security has also been a huge benefit to Poland's Right-wing opposition party, Law and Justice (PiS). Last month, Karol Nawrocki, the party's preferred candidate in the Polish presidential elections, swept to victory and has since become one of the border patrollers' most vocal cheerleaders. Once he is sworn in as president next month, Mr Nawrocki will be able to veto key legislation by Mr Tusk's government, which has the potential to collapse his centrist coalition. Rumours abound in Warsaw that encouraging anger towards the Tusk government in the border regions could also be part of PiS's strategy.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Pride on High viewing area to benefit Columbus LGBTQ+ groups
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Those heading to the Stonewall Columbus Pride March this weekend can reserve their spot at a special viewing area that benefits central Ohio LGBTQ+ organizations. Boasted as the ultimate parade watching experience, Pride on High is a ticketed event allowing guests to view the march from Parlay Sports Club and Kitchen, Hyde Park Prime Steakhouse, or the recently opened El Vaquero. The event is the only one in the Short North offering live entertainment, food and beverages during the parade, along with shade and private restrooms. In its 15th year, Pride on High was created by organizer Mike Maly and his husband, who noticed in 2010 that nearly all of the restaurants in the Short North were closed during the Pride march. Watch a previous NBC4 report on Pride on High in the video player above. Out in Ohio: Stonewall Columbus gets ready for Pride 2025 'All of the restaurants were closed for the Pride parade, and my husband and I actually went down to Hyde Park and there was a high-top table, an umbrella and two chairs, and we sat there,' Maly said. 'That following Monday, I called them and said, 'Would you consider being open?' And that was the start.' Their first year, Pride on High just welcomed 25 guests. But the event has steadily grown, from about 440 attendees right before the COVID-19 pandemic to more than 770 last year. Tickets to Pride on High cost $75 per person, with every dollar benefiting the LGBTQ+ organization of your choosing: Stonewall Columbus, Kaleidoscope Youth Center, Equality Ohio, or Mozaic by Equitas Health, a community center for transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary Ohioans. 'The mission is to bring the Columbus community together and provide funding for LGBTQ+ youth and community initiatives that, in turn, provides resources for a safe, educated and healthy future,' Maly said. 'Each and every one of these organizations, I know exactly where every dollar goes, and it's not wasted.' List: 2025 Pride Month events, festivals in central Ohio NBC4 will be streaming the march from Pride on High, with anchor Colleen Marshall hosting alongside Columbus drag queen Virginia West and Amber Nicole, who will be performing two songs before the parade. Maly said this year, 'It's important for everyone to be seen, to be heard, to celebrate who we are' in the wake of federal measures and legislation at the Ohio Statehouse that opponents deem 'anti-LGBTQ+.' Maly said the rhetoric is having a tangible effect on Pride on High, as sales are down 50% compared to this time last year. 'I think with the political environment and everything that's going on out there, it's impacting the sales,' Maly said. 'This has been very tough this year. I've worked for over 30 years and making people's lives better and making sure that kids have a better future, and that's what keeps me going.' Nissan, Walmart dial back Stonewall Columbus sponsorships for Pride 2025 While ticket sales may be down, Maly said donations to operate Pride on High are higher than they've ever been before. 'That tells me that there are people out there that truly do believe in who we are, what we are, what we bring to the world, and this is ridiculous what we're going through right now,' Maly said. 'Hopefully, we'll get some of the folks to come and join the party.' Learn more about Pride on High and purchase tickets here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Guardian
25-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The play that changed my life: Eimear McBride on nine hours of Dostoevsky, seen three times
The Maly Drama Theatre of St Petersburg's production of The Devils, based on the novel by Dostoevsky, is one of the extraordinary theatrical achievements of the last 40 years and one of the great experiences of my life – theatrical and otherwise. With a running time of around nine hours, it was also one of the longest. And I've seen it three times. That's a lot of hours to give but none of them were wasted. The first two occasions were in 1998 when the Maly played the Barbican in London. There were two options: watch it in three sections across three evenings, or do it all in one go – three hours per act, with an hour's break between each. Being young, filled with Dostoevskian fervour, and still in possession of a stoic bladder, I did both. The 90s were an incredible time for anyone interested in international theatre. With the fall of the iron curtain, long hidden theatre makers were suddenly able to share their work with new audiences in the west and those audiences were, in turn, captivated by the startling innovation of what they saw. At the forefront was the Maly Drama Theatre's Lev Dodin. He and his student company's combination of wildly imaginative, intellectually rigorous productions had most recently dazzled UK audiences with their devised works Gaudeamus and Claustrophobia, but The Devils was in another league. Developed with the Maly's older company, it was a Russian epic on a par with the accomplishments of Dostoevsky himself. Forged in long years of scene studies, improvisation, writing, rehearsing, performing then re-rehearsing, it was theatre on a scale I'd never experienced in British or Irish theatre. Text was important but Russia itself was there. Its people. Its history. The weight of its politics and its legacy of nihilism, revolution, death and redemption. The entire production revolved around the charismatic Pyotr Semak as the dead-in-the-soul aristocrat, Stavrogin, who filled the theatre with darkness. It was a terrifying performance, unbearable and unforgettable. But he was surrounded by stunning performances. From Maria Tychinina as the unwilling witness, Dasha, and Sergey Bekhterev as the manipulative revolutionary, Verkhovensky – who spent one astonishing scene eating an entire roast chicken to illustrate his character's relentlessness – to Sergey Kuryshev's heart-rending Kirillov, the engineer cajoled into using his suicide for the good of the cause and Igor Ivanov's hilarious turn as the useless drunk Lebyatkin. Performed in Russian with English surtitles, amid a spare but haunting set, it was theatre of high-wire intensity, from which neither performers nor audience would go home unscathed. And it was demanding, exhausting even. Some couldn't take it and left but most stayed. The Devils made everything that came after it seem pallid in comparison. The last time I saw it was two years later in the Maly's own theatre in St Petersburg. It was a much smaller stage, in far less grand surroundings but in their home town – and Dostoevsky's – and the resonance was so great it felt like the company could make the very walls shake. Profound, merciless and all-consuming, it was a lesson in the power of uncompromising vision that I still think of now, with awe. At the time it sent me back to the novel which, in turn, led to the character-altering, confessional section of my novel The Lesser Bohemians. So those long hours spent in the theatre were pretty transformative in the end. The City Changes Its Face by Eimear McBride is published by Faber (£20). Order your copy from
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Yahoo
Accused Missouri serial rapist may have raped women in Tucson, police say
An accused serial rapist, who lived in Tucson for a brief time, may have attacked women there, and investigators hope to hear from them, according to police in Missouri. Yahya Maly, 28, who is accused of rape, lived in Tucson for about a month between Dec. 3, 2022, to Jan. 17, 2023, the St. Louis County Police Department said. Investigators urged anyone who may have encountered Maly online or in person to reach out to local law enforcement. Maly was charged with numerous counts of rape, according to a Facebook post from the St. Louis County Police Department. Police said he is suspected of raping many women he met on dating apps and used "John" as a first name. Five women have come forward, the police department said in the Facebook post. A St. Louis County Police Department spokesperson said she did not know where the women were from. Other places Maly lived include Henrico County, Virginia; Chicago; Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. Maly, who is from Ballwin, Missouri, faces two counts of first-degree rape or attempted rape, seven counts of second-degree rape, two counts of first-degree kidnapping, and two counts of first-degree sodomy or attempted sodomy. He is being held in Missouri on a $500,000 cash-only bond. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Police seek victims of accused serial rapist who lived in Tucson
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Yahoo
Sexual assault suspect arrested in Missouri once stayed in Tucson for a period of time: Police
The Brief 28-year-old Yahya Maly is accused of multiple counts of sexual assault and kidnapping Police in Missouri say Maly stayed in Tucson for a period of time in 2022 and 2023. Police believe Maly may have other victims. ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. - Authorities in Missouri say a man who was arrested in connection with a number of sexual assault incidents there may have victims in other parts of the country, including Arizona. The backstory On Feb. 12, officials with the St. Louis County Police Department said that prosecutors in the area have charged 28-year-old Yahya Maly on multiple counts of rape and kidnapping, with a judge setting a cash-only bail of $500,000. Per a statement, Maly is accused of being involved in five separate sexual assault incidents that happened in between 2023 and 2025. In each of the five cases, investigators said Maly met the alleged victims on a dating website and brought them to his home, where the alleged assault took place. St. Louis County Police's statement on Maly contained graphic description of what allegedly happened in the five sexual assault incidents, but did allege that on an incident that happened earlier in February, Maly made the alleged victim in that incident to shower repeatedly during the several hours she was kept inside the apartment. What we know Per a Feb. 24 post on their Facebook page, St. Louis County Police officials said Maly stayed at or lived in four different areas since 2013, and said that from Dec. 3, 2022 to Jan. 17, 2023, he was staying in Tucson. "Investigators believe Maly may have victimized additional women," read a portion of the statement. Investigators also said that Maly used the first name of "John" on dating apps. What you can do Anyone with information on the case should contact investigators with the St. Louis County Police Department at (314) 615-5400. This story was reported on from Phoenix.
