Lech Walesa, leader of the banned Solidarity union, established a new opposition group Sunday that warned communist authorities that Poland faced violence unless its government compromises with opponents.
In their first statement, a meeting of 128 Solidarity and moderate opposition figures said all sides should renounce violence after recent street clashes in which young protesters attacked police with stones.After six hours of discussions in a Warsaw church cellar, the Citizens' Committee said it aimed to present opinions of independent social circles and offer programs for political and economic reforms.
"The danger of violence responding to violence has emerged in public life," the panel said. "That is why compromises, ways of resolving conflicts and the creation of the necessary institutions should be sought."
The committee said the authorities had not enabled any progress during three months of backstage negotiations over possible legalization of Solidarity, Eastern Europe's first independent trade union suppressed under Poland's 1981 martial law clampdown.
The committee said official silence on Solidarity's legal recognition was the major obstacle to stalled talks between the government and opposition over the future of reforms.
A plenary meeting of the Communist Party's policy-making Central Committee on Tuesday and Wednesday is expected to provide an official line on the talks with the opposition.