Madonna’s Warsaw gig draws protest from Polish groups

London - Catholic and veterans’ groups in Poland are protesting against one of Madonna’s MDNA concert because it falls on the anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising.

Some are even urging ticket-holders to boycott Wednesday’s show, which comes 68 years after the city’s failed revolt against the Nazi occupation began.

Organisers of the concert have agreed to show a short clip about the events of 1944 before the performance, the BBC reported.

Every year, Poles commemorate the 200,000 lives that were lost during the uprising.

One Catholic group called Krucjata Mlodych, or Youth Crusade, has started an online campaign urging people not to attend the pop diva’s concert.

They said that more than 50,000 people had signed up to their ‘Don’t Go To See Madonna’ campaign.

The group also said that anti-Madonna Mass services and street prayer sessions had been held.

They accused her of offending their faith through her use of burning cross and crown of thorns imagery, and said she promoted pornography and sexual deviation.

Billboards around the capital promoting the concert have been defaced with the sign of the Polish Home Army, which was the largest underground army in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Every year, at 1700 on August 1, sirens wail across the Polish capital and people stand still to pay their respects to the victims of the 63-day uprising.

According to Polish Radio, conservative opposition MP Stanislaw Pieta has appealed to the government not to allow her concert to go ahead in the city’s National Stadium.

Apparently, concert organisers have agreed to a proposal by city officials to show a short film about the uprising in the stadium before the show, in an attempt to calm down the protesters.

“It is an important moment in Polish history, so we have decided to remind people of that moment,” Ania Pietrzak, a spokeswoman for concert organiser Live Nation, said.