Riot police deployed to Poland's top court amid claims of 'coup' over suspension of chief judge in battle between Donald Tusk's centrist government and nationalist right

Riot police have been deployed to Poland's top court amid claims of a 'coup' after its chief judge was suspended in an escalating battle between Donald Tusk's government and the nationalist right.

Dozens of officers guarded the entrance to the Constitutional Court in Warsaw on Friday as protesters gathered outside, with some chanting 'Tusk traitor'.

The extraordinary stand-off prompted President Karol Nawrocki to abandon an official trip to Senegal mid-flight and order his plane back to the Polish capital.

Three people were arrested after trying to enter the court complex, police said, as supporters of the opposition Law and Justice party (PiS) protested the ousting of court president Bogdan Swieczkowski.

Some said prayers while holding Roman Catholic rosaries and religious images.

The court's official X account denounced the intervention as a 'coup d'etat' and insisted Swieczkowski remained in office.

The confrontation marks a dramatic escalation in the struggle between Tusk's centrist government and the nationalist opposition over control of Poland's judiciary.

Swieczkowski's suspension was announced by fellow judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, who said the move was needed to restore the rule of law. 

Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek, who is also the attorney general, told journalists he had requested the lifting of the legal immunity of Swieczkowski and his deputy Bartlomiej Sochanski. 

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

Police officers stand guard outside Poland's Constitutional Tribunal after responding to potential security threats in Warsaw, Poland, 30 October 2026

Police officers stand guard outside Poland's Constitutional Tribunal after responding to potential security threats in Warsaw, Poland, 30 October 2026

He wants the pair to face criminal charges over their refusal to allow judges elected by parliament to adjudicate.

'This court has become private property; we must restore its proper functioning,' he added.

Tusk justified the action in a comment on the X platform.  

'Restoring the rule of law is our duty,' he said.

'After years of PiS-led lawlessness, this is a difficult process, sometimes painful, and it requires decisive action. There is no other way.'

Former PiS prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski addressed the demonstration and called for Nawrocki to act.

The president said he had called off an official trip to Senegal in mid-flight and ordered his plane back to Warsaw. He was to go to the court from the airport, media reports said.

Tusk's government has been trying for weeks to force out the court's judges, who were appointed by the previous PiS government that ruled from 2015 to 2023.

The court frequently ruled in favour of Polish legislation over European Union law and the EU accused Poland's highest court of being too close to the nationalist political power of the time.

Tusk vowed to end the dispute with Brussels after winning an election in 2023. But the country's president, a right-wing independent backed by PiS, has blocked his nominations to the court.

Nawrocki has refused to swear in five judges elected by parliament since March, citing alleged problems with the way they were selected.

Korwin-Piotrowska, who has now been placed in temporary charge, is among those judges.

The court's X account said she could not become interim chief because she had not been sworn in by the president.

Earlier this month, the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe's advisory body on constitutional matters, said Nawrocki should swear in the judges so they could take their seats.

The dispute stretches back to 2015, when PiS came to power and moved quickly to secure a majority on the court, which rules on whether legislation is constitutional.

European courts subsequently found that three judges had been improperly elected to positions already validly filled by the previous parliament.

Rulings that the Constitutional Court no longer met the requirements of an independent and impartial tribunal have underpinned Tusk's government's refusal to publish its decisions.

But efforts to dismantle the PiS-era judicial changes have repeatedly been blocked by presidential vetoes, first under Andrzej Duda and then Nawrocki.

With parliamentary elections due next year, some of Tusk's supporters have demanded stronger action to reverse those changes.

Yet Friday's intervention also drew criticism from opponents of the PiS judicial overhaul.

Protesters gather outside the headquarters of Poland's Constitutional Court after police blocked access to the building

Law professor Marcin Matczak, who has described Swieczkowski as the court's worst president, said there was no legal basis for his suspension, the BBC reported.

He warned that images of armed police and the suggestion that a justice minister could remove the court's president by decree risked damaging the rule of law for years.

The constitutional court's official website was not accessible on Friday evening.

Amid the confusion, Korwin-Piotrowska said a democratic state in modern Europe could not function without a constitutional court protecting citizens' rights and freedoms.