Police deployed at Poland’s top court amid leadership dispute

Policemen stand outside the Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal building in Warsaw following protests over the suspension of its president and with increasing tensions between the government and opposition.

Senior judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, who took over the court’s authority, suspended Bogdan Święczkowski, the court’s president, on Friday, The Associated Press reported.

Outside court, dozens of protesters, including supporters of the opposition Law and Justice party(PiS) had gathered. Three people were arrested after protesters crossed the court’s fence and threw stones at police, the force said.

President Karol Nawrocki cut short his visit to Senegal and returned to Poland, saying, “At a moment like this, the President must be in Poland. I am cutting short my flight to Senegal. I am returning.”

This is part of the wider row between Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-Europeans and the nationalists over the appointment of judges and judicial independence.

Tusk has argued that the government is making efforts to restore the rule of law, while other PiS members have labelled the suspension as a public challenge to the constitutional order.