Anxious about refugees, Polish cities reject memorial sirens

Anxious about the wellbeing of Ukrainian refugees, city mayors across Poland are refusing the government's instructions to sound air raid sirens as part of memorial observances for a 2010 presidential plane crash

WARSAW, Poland -- Anxious about the wellbeing of their Ukrainian refugees, city mayors across Poland are refusing the government’s instructions to sound air raid alarm sirens Sunday as part of memorial observances for Poland's 2010 presidential plane crash.

The right-wing central government wants the sirens to go off at 0641 GMT Sunday, the exact time the plane crashed in Russia 12 years ago, killing President Lech Kaczynski and 95 other prominent Poles.

Kaczynski was the twin of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is the ruling Law and Justice party's leader and Poland’s key politician.

But city mayors, who represent local governments, are refusing to do that, saying it will be an unnecessary trauma for people — especially children — who recently fled their homes at the sound of air raid sirens and headed to shelters to avoid Russian bombings since it attacked Ukraine on Feb. 24.