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- Caroline Mercer via fox - World
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Polish President Nawrocki Returns Home as Police Seize Constitutional Court
RePolish President Nawrocki Returns Home as Police Seize Constitutional Court
Karol Nawrocki interrupted his flight to Senegal and returned to Poland after police entered the Constitutional Tribunal and its head was suspended from office.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki turned his plane around on its way to Senegal and returned home after police entered the Constitutional Tribunal, the country's highest court, and its head, Bohdan Świczkowski, was suspended from office. "At such a moment, the president must be in Poland," Nawrocki wrote on X. "I am interrupting my flight to Senegal. I am returning."
Police said they took control of the court building after dozens of protesters gathered outside. They were protesting what they called the unlawful suspension of the court's head by the current pro-European government. According to police, dangerous objects were also thrown at officers near the building. Some protesters prayed, while others held signs reading "Tusk — a symbol of anti-Polish sentiment," "Down with the communists and Tusk's regime," and "Stop destroying the state."
The judiciary has become one of the main points of conflict between the government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the opposition Law and Justice party (PiS), which governed the country from 2015 to 2023. Critics accuse PiS of political control over key judicial institutions, and some reforms led the EU to impose fines on Poland. Nawrocki, an ally of PiS, previously refused to swear in three of the six judges that parliament elected this year. Świczkowski, appointed under the PiS government and formerly deputy minister of justice, did not allow judges chosen by the current parliamentary majority to perform their duties. According to the tribunal's website, he was suspended on Friday.
Tusk, who returned to power in 2023 promising to restore the independence of the judicial system, said: "Restoring the rule of law is our duty." On X, he added that after years of lawlessness, which he said were caused by PiS, this process is difficult, sometimes painful, and requires decisive action, and there is no other way. He said the efforts of the pro-European government had already been blocked three times by two presidents linked to PiS, including Nawrocki.
Former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who was previously a member of PiS and now leads the Development Plus coalition, which positions itself as an alternative to Tusk's government ahead of next November's parliamentary elections, also criticized the events. He wrote that "justice cannot be achieved through violence," adding that "Tusk will stop at nothing to stay in power." Former PiS justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro said that "a coup d'état is indeed taking place" and called for "loud, firm, united and fearless resistance."
U.S. Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose issued a statement calling the events at the Constitutional Tribunal "very serious," saying he was witnessing an unprecedented standoff over the government's use of state power and the independence of a constitutional body. He stressed that thousands of people gathered near the tribunal make an already dangerous situation even more explosive, and added: "America stands with Poland." At the same time, he noted that it was not for them to interfere in the country's internal affairs. Both sides describe what happened in different ways.
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