Poland deployed riot police around its constitutional court on Friday after the suspension of its president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, triggered protests and intensified a confrontation between Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-European Union government and the nationalist opposition. President Karol Nawrocki abandoned an official visit to Senegal while in mid-flight and returned to Warsaw to address the escalating dispute.
Dozens of police officers guarded the court’s entrance as supporters of the opposition Law and Justice party (PiS), which governed Poland from 2015 to 2023, gathered to condemn Swieczkowski’s removal. Some demonstrators attempted to breach security barricades, prompting police to arrest three people who tried to enter the court complex.
The constitutional court’s official social media account described the developments as a “coup d’etat” and maintained that Swieczkowski remained in office. Protesters also chanted “Tusk traitor”, accusing the government of violating constitutional rights. “Tusk is trampling on our constitutional rights,” demonstrator Tomasz Zaleski said outside the court.
The dispute follows weeks of efforts by Tusk’s government to remove judges appointed during the previous PiS administration. The constitutional court has frequently ruled in favour of Polish legislation over European Union law, prompting criticism from the EU, which accused the court of being too closely aligned with the nationalist political leadership at the time.
Tusk, a prominent supporter of European integration, pledged after his election victory in 2023 to resolve Poland’s longstanding dispute with Brussels over the rule of law. However, his efforts to reshape the constitutional court have encountered resistance from Nawrocki, a right-wing independent president who has blocked government nominations to the institution.
The immediate confrontation began when judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska announced Swieczkowski’s suspension, saying the move was necessary to restore the rule of law. Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek, who also serves as attorney general, told journalists that he had requested the lifting of the legal immunity of Swieczkowski and his deputy, Bartlomiej Sochanski.
“This court has become private property; we must restore its proper functioning,” Zurek said.
Tusk defended the government’s actions in a social media statement, arguing that intervention was necessary to address the legacy of the previous administration.
“Restoring the rule of law is our duty,” he said. “After years of PiS-led lawlessness, this is a difficult process, sometimes painful, and it requires decisive action. There is no other way.”
Former PiS prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski addressed the demonstrators and called on Nawrocki to intervene. The president subsequently announced that he had cancelled his official visit to Senegal while travelling and ordered his return to Warsaw.
After arriving in the capital, Nawrocki met Swieczkowski and the court’s first chief justice, Zbigniew Kapinski, at the presidential palace. No details were released about the meeting or any possible action the president intended to take.
The competing claims over the court’s leadership remained unresolved on Friday evening. Its official website was inaccessible, while its social media account insisted that Swieczkowski continued to hold the presidency and that Korwin-Piotrowska could not serve as interim chief because she had not been sworn in by the president.
Korwin-Piotrowska defended the need for a functioning constitutional court, saying: “In modern Europe, a democratic state cannot function without a constitutional court […] that acts as a guarantor of citizens’ rights and freedoms.”
