Silent march honours Krakow shooting victims as president and prime minister show rare 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 is 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, he said.

There has 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.

In addition to his electronic devices like his phone, investigators are examining a number of badges that Oksinski had attached to his military-style outfit. The prosecutor's office says a yellow Gadsden flag with a coiled snake symbol was displayed in his bedroom. It has various meanings of freedom and rebellion, a spokesman emphasised. Not necessarily negative.

It was at Oksinski's home that the bodies of his parents and sister were discovered. It's alleged that he shot them, before driving some 200km (125 miles) south to continue the killing in Krakow.

One of the six victims has been identified as a Polish painter in her 50s, who was a mother of four, and in town with friends for an exhibition opening. A British citizen and an Austrian who died are yet to be named publicly. Several drivers of the horse-drawn carriages that are usually poised to trot tourists around the square were seriously injured.

Two days on, shops and cafes around the market square are beginning to fill up again, but the mood is subdued. A Zara clothes shop is still boarded up, after bullets smashed the glass. A local man in his 50s died just outside.

Jo, a Scottish tourist, saw paramedics who got there ridiculously fast, fighting to save him. It was all pretty grim. Like many, she initially mistook the rifle shots for fireworks.

Olha, a Ukrainian citizen, moved to Krakow for safety when Russia launched its full-scale invasion. She works in a nearby chocolate shop, and on Saturday people rushed into her store to escape the gunman who was tearing around in his car, firing through the window. This is supposed to be a safe place! she exclaimed. It's so sad, and so scary. Especially that he drove all the way here for two hours, planning this and thinking about it.