POLES MOURNED THE first anniversary of the fatal plane crash that killed the country’s President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, and 94 other people – most of them high-ranking military and political figures – one year ago.

The country was shocked on 10 April 2010 to learn of the tragedy, which threw the Poland into a state of grief and political turmoil. The accident also stirred bad feelings between Poland and its former Cold War ruler Russia,  Reuters reports.

Today the country relived the deep pain that engulfed the nation a year ago with a day of prayers and other ceremonies marking the anniversary of the plane crash.

Deep political and social divisions that have simmered since the crash were also on display, with protesters voicing anger at the Polish government and at Russia for an investigation they believe is marred, as well as other grievances.

Church bells rang out across Poland to mark the exact time a year ago that the plane crashed, killing all 96 people aboard. People filled churches and cemeteries and a large crowd waving Polish flags gathered in front of the presidential palace, where Kaczynski and his wife Maria lived before their deaths in the crash near Smolensk, Russia.

The crowd fell still at 8.1 a.m. and sirens wailed in central Warsaw while church bells pealed in many places. The names of the 96 victims were read out in ceremonies and on television, with the anniversary completely dominating news coverage from the early hours onward.

“A year ago, on April 10, 2010, our world collapsed. In that one moment, time froze. The shock that we survived has changed the lives of our families,” Jolanta Przewoznik, the widow of one of those killed, said in a ceremony at the Powazki cemetery in Warsaw. “It’s sometimes difficult to break through the layers of pain.”

Earlier, the loved ones of many victims gathered for a private Mass at Warsaw’s airport, the scene of some of last year’s most painful scenes, where 96 flag-draped coffins returned over several days last year to funeral marches.

At the time, the country experienced a short period of national unity amid the shock of losing the president, first lady and dignitaries that included the president of the central bank and the head of the air force.

The disaster, however, quickly deepened political and social divisions in the country, and in a sign of that, separate commemorative events were held Sunday.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk, President Bronislaw Komorowski and other politicians honored victims in a military church and at Powazki cemetery. But Kaczynski’s twin brother, Jaroslaw, boycotted the official events and marked the anniversary in his own separate ceremonies.

Lech Kaczynski and many of the others killed belonged to the nationalist conservative party Law and Justice, which Jaroslaw Kaczynski heads. That camp now blames Tusk’s government for selling out Poland’s interests by allowing Russia to lead the main investigation into the crash. Earlier this year the Russian investigators concluded that Poland bore full responsibility for the crash, sparking outrage in Poland.

- Additional reporting by AP