The events of last evening in Warsaw were unbelievably dramatic, coming out of the blue as they did.
Police descended on the country's Constitutional Tribunal building, ringing it with barricades and cordons of officers, at the behest of Poland's prime minister, Donald Tusk. This was cleverly timed to happen within moments of the country's president, Karol Nawrocki, leaving for a planned trip to Senegal and being far enough out of Polish airspace that a quick return was nearly impossible.
This dispute - over tribunal judges elected by Tusk's lower house in parliament, some of whom were rejected by Nawrocki and he did not administer their oath - has simmered for over a year between the new right-of-center, populist president and the EU-centric prime minister. Tusk runs the country's day-to-day business with a left-of-center government (but the fight over the Tribunal judges dates back to 2015).
...Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government and President Karol Nawrocki have been locked in a dispute over the Tribunal's composition. Nawrocki refused to swear in three judges elected by parliament, while the Tribunal's existing leadership refused to allow judges appointed by the current parliamentary majority to take their seats.
Tusk's government does not recognise the Tribunal's legitimacy and has refused to publish some of its rulings, citing controversial judicial appointments made under the previous PiS government.
Tusk wasted no time hustling his bit player in the drama on scene - his leftist legislature's choice to be the Tribunal's president, Judge Korwin-Piotrowska. She marched into the building, declared herself the president, and barred anyone else from entering.
Nawrocki got his plane turned around in the nick of time, landed in Warsaw, had an emergency session with advisors, and then took off for the tribunal building, where he marched through the clustered police force like a boss.
Le Président de la République de Pologne, Nawrocki, vient d'arriver en personne pour libérer le Tribunal constitutionnel assailli par le gouvernement, et, soutenu par la foule, il a franchi la barrière policière tandis qu'ils chantaient l'hymne national polonais : un chef ! https://t.co/d2vvynsABv
— Gilbert Collard (@GilbertCollard) October 31, 2026
The President of the Republic of Poland, Nawrocki, has just arrived in person to free the Constitutional Tribunal besieged by the government, and, backed by the crowd, he crossed the police barrier while they sang the Polish national anthem: a leader!
In an interesting aside that only emerged this morning, there are reports that confirm what I had been surprised Tusk had not done - block Nawrocki's plane from landing.
According to these (and there are multiple ones), there were orders to do so. To deny Nawrocki's presidential jet permission to land in Warsaw and divert it to a military field hundreds of klicks away. But the military refused to comply with what were essentially illegal orders. Just keep in mind no one in authority has confirmed any of this.
Nawrocki miał nie dostać zgody na lądowanie w Warszawie. Wojsko nie posłuchało #włączprawdę #TVRepublika https://t.co/piDk4vz5oT
— Telewizja Republika 🇵🇱 #włączprawdę (@RepublikaTV) October 31, 2026
RepublikaTV ~ Nawrocki was not supposed to receive permission to land in Warsaw. The military did not listen
Nawrocki got inside and was confronted by the Tusk judge, and she laid some hands on while trying to bar the Polish president from going any further. You can tell by Nawrocki's face that he is shocked at her actions.
‼️Kto kupi waszą narrację, że Prezydent przepychał kobietę? Nawet silni razem mają z tym problem! Na poniższym nagraniu widać dokładnie, jak Korwin-Piotrowska odpycha Prezydenta pięściami, naruszając jego NIETYKALNOŚĆ!
— Karol Nawrocki - popieramy (@KarolPopieramy) October 31, 2026
Wstyd i hańba! pic.twitter.com/X81EfXziWX
The president grabs her by her shoulders and moves her off of him.
She is now claiming he 'physically attacked' her and the others during the encounter.
...After an emergency meeting at the Presidential Palace, President Karol Nawrocki and Supreme Court First President Zbigniew Kapiński drove to the Tribunal shortly after midnight, where protesters greeted him chanting "Karol! Karol!"
According to Radio Maryja, police pushed back officers of Nawrocki's own State Protection Service before he made it through. Paweł Szefernaker, head of the President's Office, confirmed that Nawrocki and Kapiński entered the building.
The other side tells a different story. Maciej Berek, one of the Tusk-majority judges and a longtime close aide of Tusk, claimed the president never made it inside and accused him of "physically attacking" Anna Korwin-Piotrowska and the other judges.
🇵🇱 BREAKING: President Nawrocki pushes his way into the Constitutional Tribunal in the middle of the night After an emergency meeting at the Presidential Palace, President Karol Nawrocki and Supreme Court First President Zbigniew Kapiński drove to the Tribunal shortly after midnight, where protesters greeted him chanting "Karol! Karol!" According to Radio Maryja, police pushed back officers of Nawrocki's own State Protection Service before he made it through. Paweł Szefernaker, head of the President's Office, confirmed that Nawrocki and Kapiński entered the building. The other side tells a different story. Maciej Berek, one of the Tusk-majority judges and a longtime close aide of Tusk, claimed the president never made it inside and accused him of "physically attacking" Anna Korwin-Piotrowska and the other judges.
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) October 31, 2026
Protestors had been gathering outside the Tribunal from the very first siren, it seemed, and more streamed in through the night.
#BREAKING: Thousands of Poles are now gathered in front of the Constitutional Tribunal building in Warsaw, which has been occupied by police sent by Leftist Donald Tusk's government. Opposition figures are describing Tusk's actions as an attempted coup. https://t.co/Dlv8e8kLgT
— RC (@RealChange__) October 31, 2026
Many had Polish flags with them.
🇵🇱 Photos and video from outside Poland's Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw tonight, sent to us by a subscriber on the ground. pic.twitter.com/OrBmEnUfQA
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) October 30, 2026
The tents have been there since September. It seems some 'patriots,' as they called themselves, had been keeping a constant vigil, anticipating a move of exactly this sort from Tusk.
🔺Meanwhile in Poland - patriotic poles are camping outside government buildings in Warsaw to prevent police entering while President Nawrocki is out the country stopping EU favourite Donald Tusk from appointing left-wing puppet judges. Speculation that police could forcibly enter the tribunal to enable judges whom its head has barred from ruling on cases to take part in proceedings, Paweł Szefernaker, chief of staff to President Karol Nawrocki said the presidential office would "respond accordingly at the appropriate moment." His comments came after Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said police were responsible for ensuring compliance with the law and would intervene if laws were being violated at the tribunal. Szefernaker on Thursday referred to a letter from Bartosz Grodecki, head of Nawrocki’s National Security Bureau (BBN), to Kierwiński asking him to confirm or deny reports that law enforcement agencies supervised by the interior ministry could take action against the tribunal. Grodecki also said Nawrocki expected "the legal basis and factual justification for such a move to be presented if it is planned." Szefernaker said the presidential office was preparing various scenarios but declined to provide details.
— Southampton Times (@sotontimes) September 22, 2026
Today turned into a battle of the narratives. Here was Donald Tusk on the 29th in a little podcast heart-to-heart.
Nie pozwolę, by prawica wyprowadziła nas z Unii Europejskiej. O to dziś toczy się gra. https://t.co/jLHXvRscYm
— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) October 29, 2026
I will not allow the right wing to take us out of the European Union. That’s what the game is about today.
And here he was this afternoon, in the finest tradition of liberal projection and gaslighting, holding forth on Polish national TV as the victim after last night's version of storming the castle.
JUST DEFENDING DEMOCRACY, FOLKS
Polish PM Donald Tusk: "I sincerely wish that we would never have to witness scenes like these in Poland. However, giving in to lawlessness and violence cannot be the way to achieve peace. A democratic state must be strong and capable of enforcing justice. We have been watching this situation with concern for many hours. It is difficult for all of us to understand what the groups of politicians and activists from PiS and Confederation, ranging from Braun to Bąkiewicz, are trying to achieve by pushing and shoving. The police are responding to acts of aggression calmly but firmly. The attack on the Constitutional Tribunal and its judges is yet another chapter in the process of destroying the rule of law in Poland by PiS and Presidents Duda and Nawrocki. Together with the parliamentary majority, I have made attempts to repair the Tribunal. Nobody had any doubts that the Tribunal, in the form imposed by PiS, was not a genuine court. This was the assessment of international institutions, respected Polish legal authorities, and public opinion. We proposed resolutions and legislation to all political forces and both presidents that would have made it possible to jointly restore the rule of law. All in vain. Everything was blocked by the President and PiS. We therefore waited patiently for the election of new judges, until the terms of their predecessors appointed by PiS expired. The Sejm elected the judges. They took their oath, but the President did not see fit to receive it. The lawfully elected judges were blocked by Tribunal President Święczkowski and were unable to take up their duties. And when, after many weeks of patiently waiting, they finally decided to assume their responsibilities rather than wait any longer for Mr Święczkowski to change his position, they were attacked. I want to make this absolutely clear: lawfully elected members of the Constitutional Tribunal were attacked, and the police on the scene were protecting the Tribunal from the aggressors. To simplify matters, let me use an analogy. Imagine a situation in which a thief snatches an elderly woman's handbag and runs away. When he is apprehended, he starts shouting that violence is being used against him and calls the attempt to recover the stolen property an act of robbery. Meanwhile, some bystanders and so-called centrists suggest that, to resolve the situation peacefully, the thief and his victim should simply split the contents of the handbag equally. There are matters on which there can be no compromise. Shouting, lies, and brawling cannot be the source of law in Poland, and they never will be. Democracy is the best, and unfortunately also the most difficult, system humanity has ever devised. It is a source of pride for us as Poles that democracy was our first sovereign choice after regaining independence. Democracy is our tradition and the source of a success that is now recognised around the world. Thanks to it, we are growing stronger. The rule of law differs from the law of the jungle in that justice is not determined by physical strength or brute force. In a state governed by the rule of law, a judge, even if she is a petite woman, does not yield to an aggressive bully. The rule of law protects the weak just as much as the strong. In a state governed by the rule of law, a politician cannot enter a court or tribunal and issue orders or intimidate judges, even if that politician is the President. The rule of law does not see party colours and knows no such thing as impunity. Let us call things by their proper names. For years, there have been organisations and politicians in Poland who want to destroy democracy and the rule of law. It is not my task today to judge their motives. Whether it is greed, stupidity, or treason, the result is ultimately the same. And it is no coincidence that they find support around the world among pro-Russian forces. Today, in this conflict, they are also benefiting from the support of the Russian army of internet bots. They have even received public praise from the Kremlin's chief ideologue. We waited far too long for the treasure that is an independent, democratic Poland to become frightened and give in. We Poles have achieved far too much in building a strong state to surrender it now. I am confident that the Constitutional Tribunal will begin functioning as it should, independently, autonomously, and in accordance with the Constitution, including independently of me. It is the responsibility of the executive branch, and therefore my responsibility, to ensure its security and provide it with the conditions necessary to work. And I intend to fulfil that responsibility. Poland is strong, democratic, and determined. It has not perished, and it will not perish. Thank you very much."
— GeoInsider (@InsiderGeo) October 31, 2026
...We have been watching this situation with concern for many hours. It is difficult for all of us to understand what the groups of politicians and activists from PiS and Confederation, ranging from Braun to Bąkiewicz, are trying to achieve by pushing and shoving.
The police are responding to acts of aggression calmly but firmly.
The attack on the Constitutional Tribunal and its judges is yet another chapter in the process of destroying the rule of law in Poland by PiS and Presidents Duda and Nawrocki.
Together with the parliamentary majority, I have made attempts to repair the Tribunal. Nobody had any doubts that the Tribunal, in the form imposed by PiS, was not a genuine court. This was the assessment of international institutions, respected Polish legal authorities, and public opinion...
Prime Minister Tusk seems to have forgotten who directed the 'attack' part. Well, to be fair, they always do, but this is pretty nervy.
Tusk's hand-picked Tribunal toadie who likes to throw hands at the country's president was on air calling for calm and 'de-escalation.'
Korwin-Piotrowska po bezprawnym zajęciu fotela prezesa TK: „Apeluję do polityków i prezydenta Nawrockiego, żeby wyciszyć eskalację, nie nawoływać do uruchomienia sił narodu, bo rozwiązania siłowe są katastrofą” Powiedziała po tym jak użyli rozwiązań siłowych XDDDDD https://t.co/tvdtmGZ3Cc
— chrzanik (@chrzanikx) October 30, 2026
Korwin-Piotrowska after the unlawful seizure of the Constitutional Tribunal president's chair: "I appeal to politicians and President Nawrocki to de-escalate, not to call for mobilizing the forces of the nation, because forceful solutions are a catastrophe" She said this after they used forceful solutions XDDDDD
I mean, I'm ded here.
I thought we had some bald-faced lying charlatans, but holy CRAP.
As David noted in his excellent piece on the subject earlier, NOT A PEEP out of Tusk's buddies in the EU at this totally botched affair.
Everyone is noticing the silence from Brussels.
Quanto sta accadendo in Polonia è senza precedenti. Mentre il Capo dello Stato era all'estero in viaggio di Stato, il primo ministro Donald Tusk ha mandato la polizia a presidiare il Tribunale costituzionale per imporre la propria volontà alla Corte. In nome di non si sa quale Stato di diritto. Esprimo piena solidarietà al presidente Karol Nawrocki e a quanti si battono per difendere l'ordine costituzionale polacco. Finora, da Bruxelles e dalla nostra sinistra, solo silenzio. Se continueranno a tacere, confermeranno ancora una volta che lo Stato di diritto è per loro soltanto uno strumento per attaccare le destre. Italia e Polonia erano dalla stessa parte quando si trattava di conquistare la libertà. Siamo dalla stessa parte oggi, quando si tratta di difenderla. 🇮🇹🇵🇱 #Polonia
— Antonio Giordano (@Giordano__Ant) October 31, 2026
What is happening in Poland is unprecedented. While the Head of State was abroad on a state visit, Prime Minister Donald Tusk sent the police to guard the Constitutional Tribunal in order to impose his will on the Court. In the name of one doesn't know what rule of law.
I express full solidarity with President Karol Nawrocki and with all those who are fighting to defend the Polish constitutional order.
So far, from Brussels and from our left, only silence. If they continue to remain silent, they will once again confirm that the rule of law is for them merely a tool to attack the right-wing.
Italy and Poland were on the same side when it came to winning freedom. We are on the same side today, when it comes to defending it.
Tusk has so many good friends in low places.
So a CIA agent masquerading as a politician visits Poland and a month later they have a coup. And now she’s threatening a coup in the US. Hmmm. It’s probably nothing.
— Seattle Extremist (@SeattleIndepen1) October 31, 2026
President Nawrocki, for his part, has issued a calm, mature statement. No flamethrowing from his office.
Statement by the President of the Republic of Poland, Karol Nawrocki https://t.co/dzdHoFnw0E
— Kancelaria Prezydenta RP (@prezydentpl) October 31, 2026
But he did do the tiniest bit of chest thumping, and who could blame him?
He was bad to the bone last night.
🚨 „Wasz Prezydent nigdy, obiecuję to, nigdy nie powie do was: naprzód. Zawsze będę mówił do was: ZA MNĄ!” https://t.co/J3nogjMiim
— Karol Nawrocki - popieramy (@KarolPopieramy) October 31, 2026
"Your President will never, I promise you, never say to you: forward. I will always say to you: FOLLOW ME!"
And the people are outside in the cold again tonight.
Głodnych nakarmić. #TrybunałKonstytucyjny https://t.co/b9jHYELlLQ
— Michał Michalewicz (@MiMichalewicz) October 31, 2026
Feed the hungry.
Although they made sure to bring soup, God bless them.
Standing watch.
I'd say that's probably a prudent move.
Beege ADDS: I looked for this earlier but couldn't find it again in time.
TUSK: Restoring the rule of law is our duty. After years of PiS-led lawlessness, this is a difficult process, sometimes painful, and it requires decisive action. There is no other way.
@donaldtusk You raided a government building in the middle of the night when your political opponent was flying out of the country……
— Luke Rudkowski (@Lukewearechange) October 31, 2026
So let me leave this right here.
You can cancel an election and ban the winner from running (Romania), you can ban your opponents from ever running again (Hungary), you can threaten to ban the main opposition party and subject it to relentless investigations by the secret police (Germany), you can threaten a ban on the leading presidential candidate and make them wear an ankle monitor (France), every member of your circle can be investigated for corruption (Spain), you can try and cancel local elections because you will lose them (Britain), and you can storm the constitutional court with riot police because you want to control it (Poland). You can just do all these things. The secret is you just have to be on the right side of the European Commission.
— Jacob Reynolds (@jacobreynolds) October 30, 2026
...you can threaten a ban on the leading presidential candidate and make them wear an ankle monitor (France), every member of your circle can be investigated for corruption (Spain), you can try and cancel local elections because you will lose them (Britain), and you can storm the constitutional court with riot police because you want to control it (Poland).
You can just do all these things. The secret is you just have to be on the right side of the European Commission.
Don't ever forget it.
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