Poland's Tusk vows 'no compromise' on the top court overhaul as President Nawrocki accuses him of a forced takeover
President Karol Nawrocki inside the Constitutional Tribunal in the early hours of Saturday, confronting Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, the government-backed judge who declared herself head of the court, and the other newly appointed judges, telling them they 'are not judges'. He had turned his plane around mid-flight to Senegal to return to Warsaw.President Karol Nawrocki pushes through the police cordon outside the Constitutional Tribunal shortly before 1am. Government-appointed judges had suspended the court's president, Bogdan Święczkowski, a move the tribunal itself called 'the crime of a coup d'état'.A locksmith cuts through the gate chains of Poland's Constitutional Tribunal as Bogdan Święczkowski, the suspended court president and former PiS deputy justice minister, attempted to enter the building with opposition…President Karol Nawrocki enters the Constitutional Tribunal building in Warsaw late on Friday night after a stand-off with police. The suspended court president, Bogdan Święczkowski, and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański, face being stripped of immunity so criminal charges can be brought.Donald Tusk, Poland's prime minister, whose government's appointees on the Constitutional Tribunal suspended its president, Bogdan Święczkowski, and moved to strip him and his deputy of immunity, the move the tribunal has called 'the crime of a coup d'état'.President Karol Nawrocki (second left) inside the Constitutional Tribunal with Zbigniew Kapiński, First President of the Supreme Court (far left), Zbigniew Bogucki, head of the President's Office (centre), Sławomir Cenckiewicz, head of the National Security Bureau (second right), and Bartłomiej Sochański, the tribunal's vice-president (far right), one of the two officials suspended and facing the loss of immunity.
Poland's constitutional crisis deepened on Saturday night as Prime Minister Donald Tusk delivered a prime-time television address vowing that "in certain matters, there can be no compromise," defending government-backed judges who seized procedural control of the Constitutional Tribunal and suspended its PiS-appointed president, Bogdan Święczkowski. Tusk declared the court "in the form imposed by PiS was not a genuine court," comparing opposition outrage to "a thief snatching" and insisting the shake-up was essential to restore a body paralysed for over a decade.
President Nawrocki physically pushed past crowds — including newly installed judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska — to force his way into the court building, refusing to recognise her authority.
The court's own X account declared a 'coup d'état is underway,' as protesters chanted 'Tusk traitor' and police arrested three people who breached the tribunal's fence.
Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek has demanded the stripped judges lose their immunity from prosecution so criminal charges can be brought against them.
