A short notice hit the Constitutional Tribunal’s website at 6:00 pm sharp on October 30, 2026. It stated that President Bogdan Swieczkowski and Vice President Bartlomiej Sochanski were suspended. The move, announced by Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, claimed the action was necessary to restore the rule of law. The site crashed minutes later.
President Karol Nawrocki was heading to Senegal when he saw the news. He turned the plane around. “At a moment like this, the President must be in Poland,” he wrote on X, cutting short his diplomatic trip. By early Saturday, his chief of staff confirmed Nawrocki had entered the Tribunal building, accompanied by Supreme Court First President Zbigniew Kapinski.
The streets of Warsaw erupted. Riot police barricaded the court as dozens of protesters demanded the reinstatement of Swieczkowski. Chants of “Tusk traitor” echoed outside. The court’s official X account declared a “coup d’etat,” insisting Swieczkowski remains the legitimate president and that Korwin-Piotrowska is not a judge. “All persons participating in these actions are committing the crime of a coup,” the account posted.
The fallout reached the diplomatic corps immediately. Ambassador Jakub Kumoch resigned from his post in China, calling his continued service impossible. Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, attending the G20 Summit in the US, responded harshly: “I acknowledge the unprofessional conclusion of your mission. You no longer represent the Republic.”
This is the latest flashpoint in a years-long war between Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government and the Law and Justice (PiS) opposition. Tusk’s administration has spent weeks trying to remove judges appointed under PiS, accusing Swieczkowski of blocking lawful appointments. “Restoring the rule of law is our obligation,” Tusk posted Friday evening. “There is no other way.” PiS leader Zbigniew Ziobro called the suspension a “blatant, criminal attack on the constitutional order.”
The next 24 hours will determine if this fracture deepens into a full constitutional crisis. Nawrocki is now inside the building, while Tusk’s government insists the suspension is legal. The EU, which has fined Poland for judicial interference in the past, is watching closely.