ZOMO

Zmotoryzowane Odwody Milicji Obywatelskiej (ZOMO) (Motorized Reserves of the Citizens' Militia), were paramilitary-police formations during the Communist Era, in the People's Republic of Poland. These, initially elite, units of Milicja Obywatelska (MO, Poland's militsiya) were created to fight dangerous criminals, provide security during mass events, and help in the case of natural disasters and other crises. Nevertheless, they became most notably known for an infamy gained in their brutal and sometimes lethal actions of quelling civil rights protests and riot control.

Early history
ZOMO units were created on December 24, 1956 under the direct command of the President of the Council of Ministers of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR, Poland's Communist party) and first used in 1957. Their mission statement was defined as "the protection of the nation," and their main role was as a rapid-response police force, structured after and trained by the instructors from the Schutzpolizei of East Germany. Since 1972, the duties of ZOMO included counter-terrorism (including countering aircraft hijackings), with the elite Special Platoons of the ZOMO (pl. Plutony Specjalne ZOMO) created in 1978. As opposition to the communist government in Poland grew, the units were expanded to counter the growing unrest, and their role became more of anti-riot police. In 1968, ZOMO was used to disperse the student protests during the 1968 Polish political crisis, leading to the reform of the formation. Two years later in 1970, thousands of troops from the Polish People's Army and ZOMO were used to quell the Polish 1970 protests, killing dozens of people and injuring more than 1,000.

Martial law
The ZOMO gained the most of their infamy during the period of martial law in Poland (1981–1983). During this time period their brutal actions against peaceful protesters often affiliated with the oppositionist Solidarity movement, and the subsequent lack of prosecution of those responsible for deaths of protesters, were major factors in bringing down the communist regime. To parody the communist newspeak during that time they were often sarcastically called "The beating heart of the Party" (pl. Bijące serce Partii). Since 1990 several trials against former ZOMO members and their political leaders took place, most prominently in the case of the massacre in the Wujek Coal Mine (where nine people where killed and 21 wounded when Katowice's Special Platoon opened fire on the striking miners in 1981 in the bloodiest incident of the martial law era).