Polish President Karol Nawrocki forced his way into the Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw shortly after midnight on Saturday, according to a video published overnight by POLITICO Europe. The footage showed him pushing through people at the court's entrance, including judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska.
Judge Maciej Berek accused the president of physically confronting Korwin-Piotrowska. Presidential aide Rafał Leśkiewicz said the judges, whom he called "usurpers," had obstructed and manhandled Nawrocki.
Inside, Nawrocki told Korwin-Piotrowska and other judges elected by Prime Minister Donald Tusk's parliamentary majority: "You are not judges [of the Tribunal]."
Korwin-Piotrowska had suspended the court's president, Bogdan Święczkowski, and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański, both named by the former Law and Justice (PiS) government. She claimed authority to take over the court's management. Święczkowski rejected the move.
In a statement around 5 a.m., Nawrocki accused the government of "forcibly seizing a constitutional institution." He demanded that police leave the court grounds and summoned emergency consultations with parliamentary parties for Saturday, citing a "threat to Poland's internal security."
Police remain deployed outside the tribunal, where PiS supporters have staged an anti-government protest camp for weeks.
The dispute centers on Tusk's efforts to reverse moves by earlier PiS governments to fill the court with judges aligned with the party. Nawrocki refused to swear in some judges elected by the governing majority. Those judges later took oaths in parliament, a ceremony Nawrocki considers null and void. Święczkowski barred them from hearing cases.