Polish riot police deployed as deposed court chief sets off crisis

Poland's President Karol Nawrocki called off a visit to Africa in mid-flight as riot police deployed around the country's constitutional court Friday 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.

The court's official X social media account said there had been a "coup d'etat" and some demonstrators chanted "Tusk traitor" as they condemned the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Some tried to force their way through security barricades. Police said they had arrested three people who had tried to enter the court complex.

Tusk was "trampling on our constitutional rights", demonstrator Tomasz Zaleski told AFP outside the court.

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, a strongly pro-EU figure, vowed to end the dispute with Brussels after winning an election in 2023. But the country's president, a right wing independent, has blocked his nominations to the court.

Former PiS prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczysnki 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 it back to Warsaw.

Back in the capital, Nawrocki held a meeting with Swieczkowski and the court's first chief justice Zbigniew Kapinski at the presidential palace. No details were given of any possible action.

The suspension of Swieczkowski was announced by another 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.

"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."

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

Its X account said there had been a "coup d'etat" and that Swieczkowski remained in office.

Korwin-Piotrowska could not become interim chief as she had not been sworn in by the president, it added.

Amid the confusion, Korwin-Piotrowska commented: "In modern Europe, a democratic state cannot function without a constitutional court (...) that acts as a guarantor of citizens' rights and freedoms."