Polish President Karol Nawrocki abruptly turned his plane around while travelling to Senegal after police entered the country’s top court and its president was suspended.
“At a moment like this, the President must be in Poland. I am cutting short my flight to Senegal. I am returning,” he wrote on X.
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Police said officers entered the Constitutional Tribunal’s premises following incidents outside the court, including the throwing of dangerous objects at police.
The tribunal said on its website that its president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, had been suspended.
The confrontation follows a deepening dispute over the court’s judges. Earlier this year, Mr Nawrocki, an ally of Poland’s former nationalist Law and Justice, or PiS, government, refused to swear in three of six judges nominated by parliament. Mr Swieczkowski, who served as a deputy justice minister under PiS, also declined to allow judges elected by the current parliamentary majority to take up their duties.
“Restoring the rule of law is the government’s duty,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X later.
“After years of lawlessness under PiS, this process is difficult, at times even painful, and requires decisive action. There is no other way,” he said.
Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek told reporters that he had requested the lifting of the immunities of Mr Swieczkowski and his deputy, accusing them of failing to fulfil their duties by preventing judges from carrying out their work.
PiS politicians, including party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, accused Mr Tusk’s government of staging a coup at the tribunal.
