Polish police deployed to top court after head judge suspended

Polish police have been deployed outside the country's top court after demonstrators gathered to protest the suspension of its head judge.

Key points

• Since his election in mid-2025, Nawrocki has refused to swear in three ⁠of six judges nominated by the Polish parliament.
• Restoring the rule of law ⁠is the government's duty, Prime Minister Donald Tusk remarked on X after the news of Swieczkowski's suspension.
• Poland's Constitutional Tribunal has long been a point of serious political contention, with critics in Poland and throughout the European Union accusing PiS.
• "This is a blatant, criminal attack on the constitutional order, " former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro wrote on X Friday.
• Protesters descended on the Warsaw court after it confirmed on Friday that its head, Bogdan Swieczkowski, had been suspended.

Police remarked on Friday they entered the premises of the Constitutional Tribunal after incidents outside the court, including objects being thrown at police.

His suspension is related to a long-running dispute that has effectively paralysed the court.

Over the past six months, Swieczkowski applied his power as head of the court to block judges elected by the current parliamentary majority from assuming their court duties.

Minister of Justice Waldemar Zurek remarked to journalists on Friday that he had requested that Swieczkowski and his deputy's immunity be lifted for failing to fulfil their duties by preventing judges from performing their work.

Swieczkowski was appointed to his position by Poland's former nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS) administration. It critics have accused of politicising the country's courts.

"After years ⁠of lawlessness under PiS, this process ⁠is tough, at times even painful, and requires decisive action. There is no other way, " remarked Tusk, leader of the Civic Coalition party.

News of Swieczkowski's suspension brought crowds of PiS supporters to the gates of the Constitutional Tribunal. Police remarked they detained three residents after some in the crowd introduced "dangerous projectiles".

Additionally on Friday, PiS-allied Polish President Karol Nawrocki unveiled he was turning his plane around while on the way to a sporting event in Senegal, saying: "At a moment like this, the President must be in Poland".

Poland's Constitutional Tribunal has long been a point of serious political contention, with critics in Poland and throughout the European Union accusing PiS. It led the country from 2015 to 2023, of imposing political control over the court by electing judges friendly to the party and its policies.

When Poland's pro-European administration came to power, it promised to restore the independence of the judiciary. Nevertheless, two attempts to do so have been vetoed by two PiS-aligned presidents – one of them Nawrocki.

Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, one of the judges Nawrocki refused to swear in on the grounds of alleged flaws in her selection procedure, has now been placed in charge of the Constitutional Tribunal.

Politicians from PiS, at present Poland's largest opposition force, have criticised Swieczkowski's suspension.

In short, polish police deployed to top court after head judge suspended is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.