Poznań 1956 protests

The Poznań 1956 protests, also known as the Poznań 1956 uprising or Poznań June (Polish: Poznański Czerwiec), were the first of several massive protests against the government of the People's Republic of Poland. Demonstrations by workers demanding better conditions began on June 28, 1956 at Poznań's Cegielski Factories and were met with violent repression.

A crowd of approximately 100,000 gathered in the city center near the local Ministry of Public Security building. About 400 tanks and 10,000 soldiers of the People's Army of Poland and the Internal Security Corps under Polish-Soviet general Stanislav Poplavsky were ordered to suppress the demonstration and during the pacification fired at the protesting civilians.

The death toll was placed between 57 and over a hundred people including a 13-year-old boy, Romek Strzałkowski. Hundreds of people sustained injuries. The Poznań protests were an important milestone on the way to the installation of a less Soviet-controlled government in Poland in October.