Latest, October 30, evening: The suspension of tribunal president Bogdan Święczkowski runs for one month and also covers his deputy, according to the statement on the court’s website reported by Deutsche Welle, and fellow judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska will lead the institution in the meantime. Warsaw police said officers were sent to secure the court’s grounds after a judge alerted them to possible threats to the safety of judges and staff, as protesters gathered outside on Friday night; DW reported no injuries or arrests. The standoff has a recent history: President Karol Nawrocki had refused to swear in five tribunal judges nominated by parliament, and when they took their oath before parliament instead, Święczkowski denied them access to the building.
Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal president Bogdan Święczkowski was suspended on Friday, according to the tribunal’s website as reported by Fox News, and police secured the tribunal building in Warsaw after dozens of protesters gathered outside and, police said, dangerous objects were thrown at officers. President Karol Nawrocki interrupted his flight to Senegal and returned to Poland, posting that at such a moment the president must be in Poland, while former prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki called the suspension a forceful takeover of the tribunal and former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro called it a coup d’état, claims made by the opposition Law and Justice camp. Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose government has been trying to reverse Law and Justice era changes to the judiciary since taking power in 2023, posted that restoring the rule of law is the government’s duty and requires decisive action.