Poland Marks Smolensk Anniversary

Poland has marked the one year anniversary of the plane crash which killed the Polish president Lech Kaczynski along with his wife Maria and 94 government officials en route to mark the Katyn massacre in Smolensk, Russia.

On Sunday 10 April, the Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Bronislaw Komorowski lay wreaths at a plaque commemorating the victims outside the Armed Forces Cathedral in Warsaw. Later, a special ceremony took place at the Smolensk victims' memorial in historic Powazki ceremony.

Opposition leader and twin brother of the late president, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, led protests outside the Presidential Palace demanding a monument to his brother be erected outside the Palace.

The victims' families have made their way to Russia for ceremonies at the crash site with the Polish President as well as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

In Wroclaw, sirens sounded at 8:41am across the city, marking the moment the late president's plane crashed in Smolensk. A special mass was led by Cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz in historic St. Elisabeth's Church.