Video: 'Solidarity Poland 1981' (martial law declared in Poland at 9:28)

(Sunday, December 13, 1981, 12:00 midnight Central European Time; during Martial law in Poland, part of the Soviet reaction to the Polish crisis of 1980–1981) — Poland’s new military leaders issued a decree of martial law today, drastically restricting civil rights and suspending the operations of the Solidarity union.

The union’s activists reacted with an appeal for an immediate general strike to protest.

A proclamation broadcast by the newly formed Martial Council for National Redemption, now the top authority in the country, also banned all kinds of public gatherings and demonstrations and ordered the internment of citizens whose loyalty to the state was under “justified suspicion.”

Video: 'ABC News: Images of the 80's 12/26/89' (martial law at 43:01)

The military rule was announced in a dramatic broadcast (Dec. 13, 1981, at 6:00 a.m. CET) by Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, the Prime Minister and Communist Party leader, who said a strict regime was necessary to save Poland from catastrophe and civil war.

‘We have to protect law and order, that’s the only way to get out of the crisis,” he declared.

The Polish People’s Army, Citizens’ Militia (MO), ZOMO special units and tanks rolled onto the streets to scare off demonstrators, begin regular patrols and maintain curfew.

Intercity travelling was forbidden unless a permit was granted by the authorities, food shortages intensified and censorship was placed again on all media and post. The secret services (SB) wiretapped phones in public booths and state institutions.