Within hours, Poland’s president had turned his plane around in mid-air, protesters had gathered on the streets, and police had barricaded the court building. At 6.00 pm local time on October 30, 2026, a short notice appeared on the website of Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal.
It said the court’s president had been suspended.
The suspension was announced by another judge, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, who said the move was needed to restore the rule of law. Early on Saturday, Nawrocki’s chief of staff said the president had entered the building. The site went down soon afterwards. Photo Credit: AFP Riot police were deployed around the court. Dozens of protesters gathered to demonstrate against what they see as the wrongful removal of the court’s president by the current pro-European government. Critics in Poland and the European Union accuse PiS of imposing political control over key judicial institutions, including this court. The reforms led the EU to impose fines on Poland. Photo Credit: AFP
The notice about Bogdan Swieczkowski, the Tribunal’s president, appeared on the court’s website at around 6 pm. Protesters gather outside the headquarters of Poland’s Constitutional Court after police blocked access to the building in Warsaw, Poland on October 30, 2026. Constitutional court president Bogdan Swieczkowski speaks with a megaphone as protesters gather outside the headquarters of the Poland’s Constitutional Court in Warsaw after police blocked access to the court building on October 30, 2026.
As the longest-serving judge, she said she was now leading the Tribunal. Some chanted “Tusk traitor”. The court’s official X account said there had been a “coup d’etat”. “President Karol Nawrocki, accompanied by the First President of the Supreme Court, Zbigniew Kapinski, entered the Constitutional Tribunal building,” Pawel Szefernaker wrote on X. The court often ruled in favour of Polish legislation over EU law, and the EU said it was too close to the nationalist political power of the time.
