NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
While en route to Senegal, Polish President Karol Nawrocki turned his plane around and returned home after police entered Poland’s highest court, the Constitutional Tribunal, and the court’s president was suspended.
“At such a time, the president must be in Poland,” Nawrocki posted on X. “I’m interrupting my flight to Senegal. I’m going back.”
Police say they secured the court after dozens of protesters gathered to demonstrate against what they call the unjustified suspension of the president of the highest court by the current pro-European government.
Police said dangerous objects were also thrown at officers outside the building.
Protesters gather in front of the headquarters of the Polish Constitutional Court in Warsaw after police blocked access to the court building, October 30, 2026. (Wojtek Radwanski/AFP via Getty Images)
Some protesters outside the court were seen praying, while others held signs that read “Tusk, a symbol of anti-Polish sentiment”, “Down with the communists and the Tusk regime” and “Stop destroying the state”.
Poland’s highest judicial bodies, including the Constitutional Court, constitute a major bone of contention between the current pro-European government, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and the main opposition party, the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, which ruled the country from 2015 to 2023.
Critics accuse PiS of imposing political control over key judicial institutions, with some reforms leading to the EU imposing fines on Poland.
NATO ALLY PUSHES US MILITARY BASE ‘FORT TRUMP’ AS RUSSIAN HELICOPTER ENTERES AIRSPACE
Nawrocki, an ally of the PiS party, refused to swear in three of the six judges appointed by parliament earlier this year.
The president of the Constitutional Court, Bogdan Święczkowski, appointed by the PiS government after having also been deputy minister of Justice, refused to authorize the judges elected by the current parliamentary majority to take up their functions. According to the court’s website, Święczkowski was suspended on Friday.
Protesters gather outside Poland’s highest court as tensions between President Karol Nawrocki and Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government escalate. (PA)
“Restoring the rule of law is our duty,” said Tusk, who returned to power in 2023 with a promise to restore the independence of the judiciary. He posted on X: “After years of PiS-led anarchy, this is a difficult, sometimes painful process, and requires decisive action. There is no other way.”
Since coming to power, the efforts of Tusk’s pro-European government have been vetoed by two successive PiS-aligned presidents, including Nawrocki.
HUNGARY AND POLAND DEFEND SUSTAINABLE MIGRATION POLICIES WHILE FRANCE IS UNDRESSED BY VIOLENT UNREST
Former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, a former member of PiS whose Rozwój Plus coalition is positioning itself as an alternative to the Tusk government in the run-up to the legislative elections next November, also spoke to
Police officers stand behind the fence with a rosary hanging on it as protesters gather outside the headquarters of the Polish Constitutional Court in Warsaw after police blocked access to the court building on October 30, 2026. (Getty Images)
“Justice cannot be achieved through violence,” Morawiecki said, adding that “Tusk will stop at nothing to cling to power… We do not accept Belarusian methods in Poland!”
“It’s true: a coup is underway,” former PiS Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro wrote on X. “If someone were to force their way into the Prime Minister’s Office and seize power, we would all know what to call it… This is a blatant and criminal attack on the constitutional order… This is why I call for a resistance that is strong, firm, united and fearless.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“A judge whose oath was never accepted by President Nawrocki declared herself head of the Constitutional Court and suspended her leadership, while the police secured the building,” Morawiecki added. “This is not how you restore the rule of law. The court’s crisis is real, but replacing one contested set of rules with a more radical one only invites the next government to do the same.”
The U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Tom Rose, issued a statement on social media that read in part: “The events unfolding this evening at the Polish Constitutional Court are very serious indeed. We appear to be witnessing an unprecedented confrontation over the government’s use of state power and the independence and authority of a constitutional institution. On the Polish side. It is not our place to judge or interfere in its internal affairs. Our concern is for the stability, security and democratic future of a country that we are proud to call our friend and ally.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Gn headline
