Developing: Poland's president pushes through police cordon at Tribunal

Poland's president pushed through a police cordon at the Constitutional Tribunal early on Saturday after the suspension of its leaders brought protesters into the street and rival judges into confrontation. ^[1]

President Karol Nawrocki appeared outside the Warsaw court shortly before one a.m. on October 31, having turned back while travelling to Senegal. Video showed him tussling with security personnel and other judges as he tried to enter the building. He was still inside at four a.m. local time, according to The Guardian. ^[1][2]

Hours earlier, judges elected by the current parliamentary majority had suspended Tribunal president Bogdan Święczkowski and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański. Hundreds of protesters, including opposition MPs, gathered in support of the suspended leaders, while riot police deployed outside. ^[1]

The Daily Inference reported on Friday that the confrontation had brought police and proposed criminal proceedings into an unresolved fight over who could serve on and lead the Tribunal. Nawrocki's overnight intervention has now put the presidency directly into the struggle over access to the building. ^[1]

In a statement read outside the court at five a.m., Nawrocki called the events "a violation of Poland's constitutional order" and said "a constitutional body was seized by force." He called for security forces to leave. ^[1]

The Tribunal decides whether laws comply with Poland's constitution. The fight concerns who can exercise the court's power to review legislation.

A suspension, then a police cordon

The confrontation began on Friday, October 30, when the judges moved against Święczkowski and Sochański and sought procedural control of the Tribunal. Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska said she had assumed its top position, citing her longer experience in the judiciary. She is among the judges Nawrocki had refused to accept. ^[1]

Police said they entered the premises after incidents outside the court, including objects thrown at officers. According to the police account reported by Al Jazeera, three people were detained after people in the crowd launched dangerous projectiles. ^[2]

The Guardian also reported three arrests, describing those detained as having tried to force their way through the heavy police presence. The two accounts do not establish whether those descriptions concern the same acts. ^[1][2]

Nawrocki challenged the standing of the judges behind the suspension as well as their decision. In a video, he said the government appointees "were not judges of the constitutional court." ^[1]

That is the dispute at the centre of the standoff. Judges elected by parliament say they can exercise authority inside the Tribunal. The president rejects their status, while the suspended leadership and its supporters reject the move to remove them. ^[1]

Law and Justice leader Jarosław Kaczyński called the suspension an "assault" on the court. Opposition figures and the Tribunal's social media account described it as a judicial "coup d'état". Those are their accusations, not a settled legal description of what happened. ^[1]

The government's case faces a legal challenge

Prime Minister Donald Tusk defended the effort as part of restoring the rule of law, saying it was "our duty" and required decisive action. Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said the previous government had politicised the Tribunal and that duly elected judges should be allowed to make it function again. ^[1][2]

According to Al Jazeera, Święczkowski, a former Law and Justice minister, had blocked judges elected by the current majority from taking up their duties. That is the obstruction the government says its intervention is intended to overcome. ^[2]

Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said he had requested the removal of Święczkowski's and Sochański's legal immunity so they could face prosecution for obstructing the court's work. The request adds potential criminal proceedings to the fight over judicial authority. It does not itself establish wrongdoing by either man. ^[1][2]

The government's argument that the court must be made to work has not settled whether the suspension was lawful. Legal expert Marcin Matczak described its legal basis as "non-existent", and experts were deeply divided over the question, according to The Guardian. ^[1]

Nawrocki's whereabouts after the statement read at five a.m., and the subsequent status of the police cordon, have not been established. ^[1][2]

Eleven years of contested appointments

The dispute reaches back to 2015, when outgoing and incoming governments made legally questionable moves to appoint Tribunal judges. Law and Justice governed from 2015 to 2023 and faced accusations from critics in Poland and the European Union that it had politicised the court. Later judicial reforms deepened the conflict over the rule of law. ^[1]

Since returning to office in 2023, Tusk's government has pledged to reverse controversial judicial changes. Presidents aligned with Law and Justice have blocked reforms, leaving control of the judiciary contested across institutions. ^[1]

The immediate impasse concerns five judges elected by the current parliament whom Nawrocki refused to swear in. Earlier in October, the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe's constitutional advisory body, said his refusal should not prevent them from taking office. ^[1]

The next practical test is whether Korwin-Piotrowska and the judges backing her can direct the Tribunal's work. Alongside that struggle, Żurek's request to lift the suspended leaders' immunity awaits an outcome that could move the confrontation into formal proceedings. ^[1][2]