Poland's Constitutional Tribunal: riot police deployed as president suspended

Polish police deployed to the Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw on October 30 after its president, Bogdan Święczkowski, was suspended. Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said he requested stripping Święczkowski and Vice-President Bartłomiej Sochański of immunity to bring criminal charges.

Dozens of protesters, supporters of the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, gathered outside. Some breached the tribunal's fence and threw objects at officers. Police detained three people.

President Karol Nawrocki, en route to Senegal, turned his plane around mid-flight and returned to Poland. "At a moment like this, the President must be in Poland," he said.

The tribunal's official X account called the events a "coup d'etat." Demonstrators chanted "Tusk traitor" against Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

The dispute pits Tusk's pro-European government against the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party over control of the judiciary. Sources say he was suspended, not officially removed from his position as President of the Constitutional Tribunal.

Poland is a NATO and EU member state. A full-blown constitutional crisis at its top court could undermine judicial independence, polarize society further, and complicate Poland's standing in Europe. The deployment of riot police and the president's dramatic return signal that the conflict is escalating beyond legal chambers into the streets.

Both sides have used the language of coups and traitors. The mechanics of suspension and immunity requests have turned a political dispute into a physical confrontation at the door of Poland's top court.