Intruder Burns Solidarity ‘V’ in Priest’s Chest

A masked man knocked out a pro-Solidarity priest with gas and burned a V-sign into his chest with lighted cigarettes at the clergyman’s home in the southern city of Krakow, officials said today.

Cardinal Franiciszek Macharski of Krakow said in a telex message to the Roman Catholic church hierarchy that the Rev. Tadeusz Zaleski, 29, was attacked by an unidentified man last Saturday at his home.

“The priest was stunned and then his face, hands and body were burned,” Macharski said in a message to Secretary of the Polish Episcopate Archbishop Bronislaw Dabrowski and Primate Jozef Glemp.

“The priest, who suffered second-degree burns, received first-aid treatment from the ambulance crew,” he said.

An independent Solidarity source in Kracow said Zaleski was an ardent supporter of the outlawed union.

Awakens in Pain

The source said a masked man stunned the cleric with a small gas container as he was going to the basement in his house. “The priest collapsed and later woke up in pain as his hand and body were on fire,” the source said.

“A V-sign was burned out on his breast” by about 30 cigarette burns, the source added.

Solidarity sympathizers used the V-sign symbol during rallies and anti-state demonstrations in defiance of Communist authorities.

The cardinal called on authorities to find the attacker and assure the church that the incident would not be repeated.

Macharski said the church and the more than 700,000 residents of Krakow were “shocked and concerned” by the attack, coming six months after a pro-Solidarity cleric, the Rev. Jerzy Popieluszko, was slain by three secret police agents. The agents were sentenced to long prison terms in February.

Another pro-Solidarity priest, Kazimierz Jancarz, narrowly escaped a fatal accident when his car was stoned in Krakow by unknown assailants a few weeks ago.