Riot police have been deployed to Poland's Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw following the suspension of the court's president, Bogdan Święczkowski, and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański.

 

Riot police deployed to Poland’s constitutional court after judge suspended

Riot police have been deployed to Poland's Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw following the suspension of the court's president, Bogdan Święczkowski, and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański. The decision has triggered a major political and legal crisis, pitting the pro-European government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk against the right-wing opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party and the PiS-backed President, Karol Nawrocki.

⚖️ The Triggering Event

The crisis escalated rapidly on Friday night after a group of government-appointed judges, led by the court's longest-serving judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, suspended Święczkowski and placed Korwin-Piotrowska in temporary charge.

• The Allegations: Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek requested that the immunity of Święczkowski and his deputy be stripped. The government accuses them of failing to fulfill their duties by systematically blocking legally elected, government-nominated judges from taking their seats over the last six months.
• The Counter-Claim: The Constitutional Tribunal's official channels and PiS leadership immediately condemned the suspension as an illegal judicial "coup d'état".

🚨 Escalation and Clashes in Warsaw

Following the announcement, hundreds of PiS supporters and opposition MPs gathered outside the court building in Warsaw.

• Police Intervention: Riot police cordoned off the building to prevent demonstrators from breaching the compound. Clashes broke out when some protesters breached the tribunal's outer fence and threw objects at law enforcement, leading to at least three detentions.
• Presidential Intervention: Polish President Karol Nawrocki, an ally of PiS, aborted an official state trip to Senegal mid-flight, ordering his plane to turn back to Warsaw. Upon arrival early Saturday morning, Nawrocki physically forced his way through the police cordon and security to enter the court building, where he remains alongside the First President of the Supreme Court, Zbigniew Kapiński. Nawrocki has stated that the government appointees "were not judges of the constitutional court".

🌐 Key Perspectives and Background

The standoff is the sharpest escalation yet in a decade-long battle over the legitimacy of Poland's judiciary.

Side / Entity	Core Position & Actions
PM Donald Tusk & Government	Defending the action to restore the rule of law. Argues that the tribunal was deeply politicized under the previous PiS administration. Tusk stated that reversing PiS-led "lawlessness" is a "difficult, sometimes painful process that requires decisive action."
President Nawrocki & PiS Opposition	Labeling the move a "coup" and an assault on the state. PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński condemned the suspension. Nawrocki has previously used his presidential veto to block Tusk's judicial overhauls and refused to swear in parliamentary nominees.
International Observers	Expressing deep concern over stability. US Ambassador Tom Rose called the situation "very serious" and an "unprecedented confrontation." European courts (the ECHR and CJEU) have previously ruled that the tribunal under PiS ownership lacked independence, which the Tusk government uses as legal backing for its current maneuvers.

The situation remains highly combustible as President Nawrocki occupies the interior of the tribunal while riot police maintain control over the exterior perimeter