Follow-up: Poland's President Enters Constitutional Tribunal in Early-Morning Scuffle, Tells Rival Judges 'You Are Not Judges'
At about 1 a.m. local time on October 31, Polish President Karol Nawrocki, having cut short his trip to Senegal and returned to Warsaw, arrived at the Constitutional Tribunal together with Zbigniew Kapiński, First President of the Supreme Court. As he entered the building there was pushing and shoving with judges waiting at the doorway, and he told Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska and others to their faces: "You are not judges of the Constitutional Tribunal."
The confrontation grew out of the previous day's suspension dispute. On October 30, Korwin-Piotrowska, citing her seniority, announced a one-month suspension of Tribunal President Bogdan Święczkowski and Vice-President Bartłomiej Sochański and said she would act as the court's head. Police deployed around the court, three people were detained in clashes outside, and Nawrocki turned his Senegal-bound plane around, landing in Warsaw before 10 p.m.
Accounts of the doorway scuffle conflict. Judge Maciej Berek said the president refused an offer of talks and physically attacked the judges; presidential spokesman Rafał Leśkiewicz said people in the doorway tried to block the president from entering and violated his physical inviolability. Video showed Nawrocki pushing through the group at the door, among them Korwin-Piotrowska and Judges Krystian Markiewicz and Berek.
Inside the building, presidential chief of staff Zbigniew Bogucki accused Korwin-Piotrowska to her face of staging a coup d'état. After 2 a.m., the president's spokesman posted a photo from inside showing Nawrocki with Kapiński, Bogucki and Sochański, the vice-president whose suspension had been announced.
At about 5 a.m., Nawrocki read a statement outside the court calling the events "a violation of Poland's constitutional order" and saying "a constitutional body was seized by force." He called for security forces to leave and announced urgent consultations with parliamentary forces.
The dispute over the Tribunal's composition dates back to 2015. Prime Minister Donald Tusk's governing coalition has not recognised the court's current make-up since taking office in 2023, and Nawrocki had refused to swear in several judges elected by the governing majority. The legality of the suspension and who is entitled to lead the Tribunal remain contested, with no resolution so far.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 波兰总统纳沃茨基于众议院（资料图）。波兰众议院官方照片，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。
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- 2026-10-31Follow-up: Poland's President Enters Constitutional Tribunal in Early-Morning Scuffle, Tells Rival Judges 'You Are Not Judges'This story
