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| - The Polish capital prepared for a mass demonstration on Friday against a court ruling that would ban almost all abortions. Crowds of protesters are expected to defy coronavirus restrictions and risk contagion to join the demonstration in Warsaw. "We're prepared to fight till the end," Marta Lempart, co-founder of the Women's Strike movement, told reporters on Friday. Security is expected to be tight following some clashes between protesters and far-right activists in nine consecutive days of protests. The protest is set to start at 1600 GMT. More than 400,000 people took part in mostly peaceful nationwide demonstrations on Wednesday and organisers are hoping many people will travel to Warsaw for Friday's protest. Women's rights groups organising the protest face possible prosecution since any gatherings of more than five people are currently banned. Smaller rallies are also planned in dozens of other Polish cities including Krakow and Wroclaw, as well as abroad in Barcelona, Vienna and elsewhere. Mass protests began last week when Poland's Constitutional Court ruled that an existing law allowing the abortion of damaged foetuses was "incompatible" with the constitution. Protesters have focused their anger on the governing ultra-Catholic Law and Justice (PiS) party, whose lawmakers asked the court to rule on the provision. The government has defended the verdict, saying it will halt "eugenic abortions", but human rights groups have said it would force women to carry non-viable pregnancies. Government leaders have slammed protests as a form of "barbarism" and "vandalism" after some demonstrations against Catholic churches. Far-right groups have called on Warsaw residents to "defend" churches in Friday's protest, although organisers have said they do not plan to target religious institutions again. On Friday, Poland's premier warned of the consequences of holding demonstrations during an epidemic, as the health ministry announced a record 21,629 new infections over 24 hours. "Let us not allow the irresponsible behaviour of some to harm older people, those weakest, the units involved in fighting the epidemic," Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on Facebook. Poland, a traditionally devout Catholic country of 38 million people, already has one of the most stringent abortion laws in Europe. There are fewer than 2,000 legal abortions every year, although women's groups estimate some 200,000 women abort either illegally or abroad. Once published in the official journal, the constitutional court ruling would ban all abortions except in cases of rape and incest or when the life of the mother is in danger. Protests are due to continue next week. dt-amj/rl
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