WARSAW — Riot police faced off with protesters outside Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal overnight after the court’s contested president, Bogdan Święczkowski, and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański, were suspended, the latest escalation in a decade-long fight over the court’s legitimacy.
President Karol Nawrocki, a Law and Justice-backed ally of Donald Trump, turned his plane around on the way to Senegal and returned to Warsaw. Shortly before 1am on Saturday he pushed through the police cordon and entered the building, the Guardian reported. In a statement read outside, he said “a constitutional body was seized by force.”
Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek is seeking to strip the two judges of immunity so they can be charged. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said: “Restoring the rule of law is our duty.” The court declared that those involved were “committing the crime of a coup d’etat.”
Police said three people were detained after protesters breached the tribunal’s fence and threw objects at officers. Law and Justice leader Jarosław Kaczyński called the move an “assault” on the court.
Sources: BBC News, The Guardian, Al Jazeera
—
