"The whole thing took place without one bruise," Urban said in a telephone interview. "Nobody suffered any harm or injury."

But Zygmunt Lenyk, of the conservative opposition group Confederation of Independent Poland, said 32 people suffered cuts, eight people were left unconscious and one man had two legs broken.

The state-run news agency PAP said some departments in the steel plant resumed work yesterday while others remained idle for maintenance.

But workers emerging from Nowa Huta yesterday afternoon said some people inside had resumed striking. PAP reported that the rate of absenteeism at the plant was between 30 and 40 percent.

In Gdansk, the area around the Lenin shipyard was cordoned off by thousands of police. The shipyard went on strike Monday, its fourth strike since April 25.

Walesa joined the strikers on Wednesday and has remained in the plant ever since.

"Once again the possibility of logic and necessary solutions are being ruined," Walesa said in the taped statements. "They are sinking our country into ruin."

He continued: "It's certainly obvious that I'll be the last to leave."