In brief
Hundreds of opposition demonstrators fought with police outside Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal on Oct. 31 after the court’s president was suspended, an act the tribunal’s leadership called a junta. The clash followed months of tension between Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s coalition and the opposition over control of the judiciary, including a disagreement over the oath‑taking of five judges elected by parliament.
Hundreds of demonstrators, many aligned with the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, clashed with police outside the Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw on Friday night after the court’s president was suspended for one month, a move the tribunal described as an “illegal coup.”
Police detained three protesters who tried to enter the court’s premises and reported several injuries, according to local media. Among the crowd were PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński and former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
The confrontation followed a month‑long dispute over judicial appointments. Parliament, controlled by Tusk’s governing coalition, elected eight judges to the tribunal this year, but President Karol Nawrocki – an ally of PiS – accepted oaths for only three. Nawrocki and the tribunal’s president refused to recognise the remaining five, preventing them from taking up their roles.
On Friday evening the tribunal’s website announced that its president and vice‑president had been suspended, and a newly elected judge assumed temporary leadership, though Nawrocki has disputed the legitimacy of that decision. The tribunal’s leadership accused the suspension of being an illegal seizure of its website and called the action a “coup.”
Nawrocki cut short his trip to Senegal, returned to Poland, and held an emergency meeting with judicial officials late Friday. He later visited the Constitutional Tribunal, entering the court building in person after midnight.
