Protests erupt outside Poland's Constitutional Tribunal amid leadership dispute

WARSAW - Protesters clashed with police outside Poland's Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw on Friday night after the court's president was suspended amid an escalating dispute between Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government and the opposition over control of the judiciary.

Police detained three protesters who entered the court's premises. Several people were reportedly injured, according to local media.

Hundreds of demonstrators, including supporters of the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, gathered outside the tribunal, accusing Tusk's government of attempting to seize control of the court. PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski and former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki were among those present.

The confrontation followed months of disputes over judicial appointments. Poland's parliament, where Tusk's ruling coalition holds a majority, has elected eight judges to the tribunal this year. However, President Karol Nawrocki, an ally of the opposition PiS party, accepted the oaths of office of only three.

The remaining five took their oaths at parliamentary ceremonies, but Nawrocki and the tribunal's president refused to recognize their status, preventing them from taking up their judicial duties.

On Friday evening, the tribunal's website announced that its president and vice president had been suspended for one month, with a newly elected judge whose status remains disputed assuming temporary leadership. The tribunal's leadership rejected the move, accusing those involved of illegally taking over its website and describing the action as a "coup."

Nawrocki cut short his trip to Senegal and returned to Poland, where he held an emergency meeting with judicial officials late Friday. Shortly after midnight, he visited the Constitutional Tribunal and entered the court building.