unity

Thousands of people joined a silent march through central Krakow on Monday night, in memory of those killed and injured when a gunman went on a violent rampage at the weekend.

The crowd were led by Poland’s president and prime minister, the bitter political rivals putting on a rare show of unity after the country’s deadliest attack in modern times.

As they reached the historic Market Square, a bugler played from the tower.

Many people were carrying flowers or candles to leave at the shrines that now dot the cobblestones, one marking each spot where someone died.

Fiercely proud of its reputation for safety, Poland has been profoundly shaken by this attack. It has left people struggling to make some kind of sense of what happened.

The alleged gunman has been named as 24-year-old Michal Oksinski by local media.

Critically injured in a shoot-out with police, he did not regain consciousness and died in hospital early on Monday.

Initially, the interior minister claimed that Oksinski was driven by far-right, extremist views. The national prosecutor’s office now says that it’s too soon to say he was “inspired” by any ideology.

“The minister wanted to win domestic political points. That’s not responsible behaviour,” Dr Pawel Musialek of the Jagiellonian University suggests, in a country where politics is highly – and often viciously – polarised.

“So far we’ve seen no clear message that this guy was strongly ideological, and that it’s not more like something from the darknet.”

There’s been no mention of any letter or manifesto that Oksinski left. One neighbour told Polish news site Onet that the 24-year-old was a “bit of a loner” but few who knew him well have spoken publicly.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Thanksgiving message comes a week ahead of Alberta’s vote on a separatism referendum.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has used his Thanksgiving message to Canadians to call for national unity, a week before the oil-rich province of Alberta is set to vote on a proposal to secede from Canada.

“We can’t build big things on fault lines,” Carney said in his video message on Monday, warning that Canada faces threats to its economy, security and way of life.

“We have to be strong, and we are stronger together.”

His comments come as Albertans head to the polls on October 19 to decide whether to begin the process of seeking independence. The initial referendum is non-binding, but it proposes to hold a binding vote in the future to decide whether Alberta should secede.

The question facing voters is: “Should Alberta remain a province of Canada, or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?”

The vote follows a growing push by a vocal group of separatists, fuelled by longstanding grievances over federal energy and environmental policies.

The secessionist movement has accused the Canadian government of unfairly targeting Alberta’s oil and gas industry, the cornerstone of the province’s economy.

The movement is also being watched south of the border, as Canada’s relationship with the United States under President Donald Trump has become strained.

An investigation by The Globe and Mail earlier this month revealed that US Republican operatives met with secession organisers in Alberta to talk about campaign strategies. Separatist leaders had reportedly offered access to the province’s water and oil royalties in exchange for US support for independence. Separatist leaders have disputed those claims.

Carney’s comments also come after another secessionist movement, the Parti Quebecois, won the most seats in a provincial election in Quebec last week, allowing it to return to power after more than a decade.

The Parti Quebecois, however, only won 59 seats out of a total of 129 in Quebec’s National Assembly, leaving it short of a majority government.

Still, following that victory, US tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, considered the richest man on the planet, applauded the results. He has been known to use his wealth and influence to support political causes, particularly on the far right.

“Good. Quebec should separate,” Musk wrote on social media. “They would be better off. Alberta and Saskatchewan should separate too.”

Carney, who grew up in Alberta, said he was filming the message from a classroom at his former school, St Francis Xavier High School in Edmonton.

“I’m back home a lot these days because we are building big things again in Alberta: thousands of new homes, high-speed rail, a new pipeline to the West Coast that will create lasting opportunity and prosperity for hundreds of thousands of people in this province and across the country,” he said.

Despite the secessionist movement’s growing visibility, polls suggest most Albertans oppose independence.