It's all kicking off at Poland's Constitutional Tribunal tonight.
Civil Unrest · · Warsaw, Poland
It's all kicking off at Poland's Constitutional Tribunal tonight.
Police are on the scene, protesters have gathered outside, and a judge has ordered the suspension of the court's president and his deputy.
President Karol Nawrocki is out of the country on a visit to Senegal, although he's reportedly cutting his trip short to return to Warsaw.
It looks as though the confrontation over the Tribunal, which Donald Tusk's government has been trying to overhaul, is entering a new and much more confrontational phase.
A bit of background for those who haven't followed this complicated saga.
The dispute goes back to 2015, when PiS began reshaping the Tribunal, provoking years of controversy over its independence and legitimacy.
Tusk's government argues that the institution was captured and needs to be put right. PiS insists it is legitimate and accuses Tusk of trying to seize political control.
The immediate issue concerns judges elected by the current parliament whose authority the existing Tribunal leadership and President Nawrocki refuse to recognise.
Now one of those judges, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, has issued an order suspending Tribunal president Bogdan Święczkowski and his deputy for a month.
PiS is calling it an unlawful takeover.
The Tribunal's website announced the suspension, while its official X account claimed the website had been unlawfully taken over so it looks like two rival groups are battling over control of communications.
Police are outside, with PiS supporters and right-wing activists protesting. There are reports of objects being thrown at officers and chains being placed on the building's doors.
PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński accused Tusk of staging a “coup against the Constitutional Tribunal”, declaring: “From today, Poland is becoming a police state, and from there it is a straight road to authoritarianism.”
Warsaw police rejected claims of a forcible takeover, stating: “Police officers are not inside the Constitutional Tribunal building.”
They said officers were responding to disturbances outside, including dangerous objects being thrown at them, and were there to restore public order.
Source: @Stuart Dowell
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