Poland's president turns his plane around after Tusk's government suspends the top court chief in what the court calls a 'coup'

Riot police were deployed outside the Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw on Friday evening after Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek requested that court president Bogdan Święczkowski and his deputy Bartłomiej Sochański be stripped of immunity from prosecution. The Constitutional Tribunal itself declared on social media that all those involved in the suspension were "committing the crime of a coup d'etat." President Nawrocki ordered his plane turned around mid-flight to Senegal, posting on X: "At a moment like this, the President must be in Poland."

PiS supporters gathered outside the tribunal, throwing objects at officers as police moved to stop protesters entering the building.

European courts had previously ruled that PiS improperly appointed three of the tribunal's judges, leaving the court in a years-long legitimacy dispute.

Tusk defended the suspensions, writing: 'After years of lawlessness under PiS this is a difficult process — there is no other way.'