Polish president forces his way into high court after dramatic return as supporters clash with police

Polish President Karol Nawrocki forced his way into his nation’s high court as his supporters clashed against an army of police outside.

The head of state arrived overnight Saturday following Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s surprise operation to remove Constitution Tribunal President Bogdan Swieczkowski and install an interim head of the court.

Nawrocki, surrounded by presidential security, had to climb over police barriers and physically shove passed officers guarding the entrance, videos captured on the ground show.

There has been no word from the president’s camp since he entered the tribunal building.

Outside, supporters of the Law and Justice party chanted “Where is the military?” — referencing Nawrocki’s role as commander in chief of the Polish Armed Forces.

The dramatic scenes unfolded after Nawrocki canceled a trip to Senegal to head back to Warsaw amid what his allies have called a “coup d’etat.”

Metropolitan Police Headquarters announced earlier Friday that its officers were “carrying out statutory activities at the premises of the Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw.” Authorities removed security from the premises and put up barriers around the area as they attempt to restore “public order” amid a forced change of leadership.

Tusk, a bitter political adversary of Nawrocki and the Constitutional Tribunal, took credit for the raid and said it was necessary to prevent lawlessness.

“Restoring the rule of law is our duty,” Tusk said earlier Friday. “After years of PiS-led lawlessness, this is a difficult process, sometimes painful, and it requires decisive action. There is no other way.”

“At such a moment, the President must be in Poland. I’m interrupting my flight to Senegal. I’m returning,” Nawrocki wrote on social media.

Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, the longest-tenured judge on the Constitutional Tribunal, was appointed as its interim president after removing Swieczkowski.

However, the Constitutional Tribunal’s account on social media platform X issued a contradictory statement: “An unlawful takeover of the Constitutional Tribunal’s website has occurred. The President of [the Constitutional Tribunal] remains Bogdan Święczkowski, and the Vice-President is Bartłomiej Sochański. Ms. Anna Korwin-Piotrowska is not a judge of the Constitutional Tribunal. All persons participating in these actions are committing the crime of a coup d’état.”

At the center of the dispute is the appointment of a new judge to the tribunal, Maciej Berek, who was elected for the position by the left-controlled lower chamber of parliament. Berek posted multiple videos on social media on Friday night showing the president attempting to force his way into the court.

PiS has questioned whether Berek’s career technically meets the requirement for judges to have 10 years experience as a legal adviser. The left wing has pushed back on this and a war over definitions has developed.

Berek is required to swear an oath of office in front of Nawrocki, but the president has dodged any meeting that would allow such an oath to happen. The new judge previously tried to sign an oath addressed to Nawrocki as a substitute, but the Constitutional Tribunal — which is ideologically aligned with PiS — rejected that gesture.

Protesters gather outside the headquarters of Poland’s Constitutional Court after police blocked access to the building in Warsaw, Poland on October 30, 2026. Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki called off a visit to Africa in mid-flight as riot police deployed around the country’s constitutional court on October 30 following the suspension of its chief justice in a battle between the centrist government and the nationalist right. Dozens of police guarded the entrance to the court as followers of the opposition right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS) protested the ousting of constitutional court president Bogdan Swieczkowski. (Photo by Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP via Getty Images)

Right-wing protesters have been standing guard outside the Constitutional Tribunal to prevent the Tusk government from installing the new judge, but the surge of police disbursed these efforts.

Beata Szydlo, a PiS-aligned member of the European Parliament, posted video of the situation to social media on Friday night — calling it a “violation of all democratic principles.”

POLISH LEFT PUSHING ABORTION LIBERALIZATION THROUGH PARLIAMENT DESPITE LOOMING PRESIDENTIAL VETO

“Shocking scenes in Poland. Police, dispatched by the Tusk government, have forced their way into the independent Constitutional Tribunal. Security personnel guarding the building and the Tribunal’s documents have been removed,” she wrote on social media. “The Vice-President of the Tribunal is being denied entry to the premises.”

Police officers stand behind the fence with a rosary hanging on it as protesters gather outside the headquarters of Poland’s Constitutional Court in Warsaw after police blocked access to the court building on 30 October, 2026 (Photo by Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP via Getty Images)

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