Poland Crisis: Police Guard Constitutional Tribunal After Chief Justice Suspended; Court Calls It a “Coup”, President Turns Plane Around
The suspension of Tribunal President Bogdan Święczkowski triggered protests by PiS supporters, while President Karol Nawrocki cut short a trip to Senegal.
Poland’s long-running battle over its judiciary escalated sharply on Friday, 30 October, when riot police were posted outside the Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw after the court’s president, Bogdan Święczkowski, was declared suspended.
What happened
The suspension was announced by Tribunal judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska. Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek said he had also sought the lifting of immunity for Święczkowski and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański. Dozens of officers stood guard at the building’s entrance as supporters of the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party gathered outside to protest.
The Tribunal hit back on its official X account, describing the move as a “coup d’état”. It insisted that Korwin-Piotrowska is not a judge of the Tribunal and accused those involved of staging a coup. Protesters chanted “Tusk traitor”, and some prayed with rosaries and held religious images, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.
President cuts short foreign trip
President Karol Nawrocki, who was flying to Senegal, ordered his plane to turn back, saying on X that the head of state must be in Poland at a moment like this. Nawrocki has blocked Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s appointments to the court.
The background
Tusk’s government has been trying to remove Tribunal judges appointed while PiS was in power between 2015 and 2023. During that period, the European Union accused the court of being too close to the government, and the Tribunal ruled more than once that Polish law takes precedence over EU law. After winning the 2023 election, Tusk promised to settle the rule-of-law dispute with Brussels.
“Poland coup” was among the fast-rising searches in India on Google Trends on Saturday.
Featured image: The Constitutional Tribunal building in Warsaw. Photo: Adrian Grycuk, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 pl (source).
Sources
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