The World - News from May 24, 1989

Polish students fought police with bare fists in central Warsaw after a court refused to legalize their independent pro-Solidarity union. Students packing the biggest hall in the Warsaw regional court chanted “Away with communism!” when Judge Danuta Widawska announced her refusal to register the Independent Students Assn. as a legal group. Their protests prevented the judge from explaining the reason for her decision, and she left the room. About 20 protesters were detained and some were seen being beaten with batons and kicked by police. The students’ union was banned along with the Solidarity independent trade union in 1981.