WARSAW — Polish President Karol Nawrocki turned back his plane en route to Senegal on Friday, October 30, after police entered the premises of Poland's Constitutional Tribunal and its president was suspended, Reuters reported. “At a moment like this, the President must be in Poland. I am cutting short my flight to Senegal. I am returning,” Nawrocki wrote on X. Police said officers entered the tribunal premises after incidents outside the court, including the throwing of dangerous objects at police; AFP reported three people who tried to enter the court complex were arrested, and dozens of police guarded the entrance as supporters of the opposition Law and Justice party (PiS) protested.

Source: Reuters

The tribunal said on its website that its president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, had been suspended on Friday. Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, the court's longest-serving judge, issued the orders suspending Swieczkowski and Vice President Bartlomiej Sochanski, accusing the leadership of obstructing judges elected by the parliamentary majority, violating judicial procedures and preventing the tribunal from functioning properly, according to EuropeSays' account of the announcement. The tribunal's leadership rejected the orders: its website and X account said Swieczkowski “remains the president of the Constitutional Tribunal and Sochanski remains the vice president,” and called the actions a “coup d'etat.” The court's official website was not accessible on Friday evening, AFP reported.

2 suspendedTribunal President Bogdan Swieczkowski and Vice President Bartlomiej Sochanski — by orders the court's leadership says are invalid
3 arrestedPeople who tried to enter the court complex, police said via AFP
2015The year the dispute over the tribunal's composition began, under the previous PiS government
3 of 6 judgesNominated by parliament earlier this year whom President Nawrocki refused to swear in, Reuters reported

Both camps claim to be defending the constitution

Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek told reporters he has requested the lifting of the immunities of Swieczkowski and his deputy for failing to fulfil their duties by preventing judges from performing their work, Reuters reported. “Restoring the rule of law is the government's duty,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X later on Friday. On the other side, PiS politicians including leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who addressed the demonstration outside the court, said Tusk's government was carrying out a coup on the tribunal, and former PiS justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro wrote on X: “It's true: a coup d'etat is underway.” Nawrocki, back in Warsaw, held a meeting with Swieczkowski and the court's first chief justice, Zbigniew Kapinski, at the presidential palace, AFP reported; early on Saturday, his chief of staff Pawel Szefernaker said the president had entered the constitutional court building accompanied by Kapinski, pushing through the crowds in footage shown on local television.

A court paralysed for a decade

A long-running political dispute over the Constitutional Tribunal — which traces back to 2015, when the then PiS government sought to appoint judges to seats the previous parliament had already filled — has effectively paralysed the institution, the wires reported. Earlier this year Nawrocki, an ally of the former PiS government, refused to swear in three of six judges nominated by parliament, while Swieczkowski, who had been a deputy justice minister under PiS, declined to allow judges elected by the current parliamentary majority to assume their duties. Last month parliament appointed Tusk ally Maciej Berek to the tribunal. What happens next turns on whether the suspension orders are enforced, whether the immunity requests against Swieczkowski and Sochanski move forward in parliament, and whether the EU — which for years accused the tribunal under PiS of being too close to political power — weighs in on a crisis its member state's two rival camps both describe in constitutional terms.

Sources: Reuters, October 30, 2026 — Nawrocki turns back from Senegal, police enter the tribunal, the suspension announcement, Zurek's immunity requests and Tusk's response; AFP via Bytes Europe, October 30–31, 2026 — riot police at the court, three arrests, the tribunal's 'coup d'etat' statement and Nawrocki entering the building early Saturday; Associated Press via EuropeSays, October 30–31, 2026 — protesters breaching a fence, objects thrown and the Korwin-Piotrowska suspension orders; EuropeSays Poland desk summary, October 31, 2026 — the accusations against the tribunal leadership.