Nationwide strike and protests take place in Poland after abortion ruling

Many Poles have gone on strike (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

People across Poland stayed off work and crowds gathered for a seventh straight day of street protests on Wednesday in a mass outpouring of anger at a top court ruling that bans abortions in cases of congenitally damaged foetuses.

Protesters in Warsaw marched from the office of Ordo Iuris, a conservative group that has pushed for a full abortion ban, to the parliament building, which was surrounded by police officers in riot gear.