Street confrontations and sharp political accusations erupted in Warsaw on the evening of Friday, October 30, 2026, centering on the nation’s Constitutional Tribunal and plunging Poland into a fresh constitutional crisis.
The unrest began in the late afternoon when Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska announced the suspension of the tribunal’s president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, and its vice-president, Bartlomiej Sochanski. Citing her seniority within the judiciary, she asserted her own legitimacy to assume leadership of the court.
Shortly after that announcement, Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General Waldemar Zurek held a press conference to state that he had formally requested the removal of immunity for the two suspended magistrates, a step that would clear the path for criminal proceedings against them. Declaring that the institution had been compromised, Zurek remarked that the tribunal had become private property and that authorities needed to restore its proper functioning.
Those developments quickly drew crowds to the headquarters of the constitutional court in Warsaw. Protesters gathered outside the building and were soon joined by prominent figures from right-wing and far-right opposition parties opposed to the center-right government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Police forces quickly repelled attempted intrusions into the tribunal building, although the intervention failed to defuse the surrounding tension. Demonstrators threw chairs and bottles at police officers while fiery rhetoric from political leaders intensified both on the streets and across social media platforms.
The events highlighted deep polarization across the country, with opposing political camps offering sharply contrasting interpretations of the crisis, debating whether the government’s actions represent a restoration of the rule of law or an unconstitutional power grab.
