Protests erupt around a top court in Poland after its president is suspended

WARSAW — Hundreds of anti-government protesters rallied overnight outside Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal to denounce the suspension of its president, a move they blame on the country’s pro-European government.

Police said they detained three protesters after some threw objects at officers and tried to break through the security fence around the court.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki — who opposes the pro-European government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk — turned back his plane during a flight to Senegal on Friday evening and returned home. On Saturday, he made his way to the Constitutional Tribunal amid the chaos and said he helped the suspended court president enter the building.

Nawrocki said that a “breach of Poland’s constitutional order” had taken place and invited all parliamentary parties to talks on Saturday in an effort to defuse tensions and find a solution.

“Since last night, we’re dealing with a massive constitutional crisis in Poland, the result of an illegal, forceful attempt to take over an important institution,” Marcin Przydacz, a top aide to Nawrocki, told the Associated Press.

The Tusk government said it acted to restore the independence of the judiciary.

The government is a broad coalition made up of the prime minister’s centrist Civic Coalition, the Left, and two more conservative groupings, Third Way and the Polish People’s Party, or PSL. Representatives of Third Way and PSL, along with several opposition parties, met with Nawrocki on Saturday. Tusk did not attend.

The president’s camp is hoping the crisis surrounding the Constitutional Tribunal will erode Tusk’s parliamentary majority.

Long-running battle over courts

The protests over the long-embattled Constitutional Tribunal are likely to sharpen the battle between Tusk’s pro-European government and its opponents, chiefly the main opposition party, national-conservative Law and Justice, or PiS.

Critics in Poland and the European Union accuse PiS, which led the country from 2015 to 2023, of imposing political control over key judicial institutions. Changes introduced under the PiS government prompted the EU to impose fines on Poland.

Tusk’s government came to power in 2023 with a promise to restore the independence of the judiciary. Since then, its efforts have been blocked by vetoes from two successive presidents aligned with PiS, including Nawrocki.

On Friday evening, the Constitutional Tribunal’s website announced the suspension of court president Bogdan Swieczkowski. Shortly after, the protesters — including PiS leader and former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and other far-right politicians — began rallying outside the building.

The government says Swieczkowski repeatedly broke the law and jeopardized the tribunal’s work. Swieczkowski became head of the court under the former PiS government. Tusk has accused him of blocking judges elected by the parliamentary majority from taking up their posts at the tribunal.

“Restoring the rule of law is our obligation,” Tusk wrote on X on Friday evening. “After years of lawlessness under PiS this is a difficult process, sometimes painful and it requires decisive action. There is no other way.”

Tusk had earlier pledged that his government would ensure the tribunal was again staffed with lawfully appointed judges while acknowledging that his methods may not be to everyone’s liking.

Politicians from PiS have criticized Swieczkowski’s suspension.

“This is a blatant, criminal attack on the constitutional order,” former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro wrote on X late Friday. “That is why I call for resistance that will be loud, firm, solidary and fearless.”

Ciobanu writes for the Associated Press.