By Aldgra Fredly

Polish President Karol Nawrocki turned back his plane on Oct. 30 while en route to Senegal after protests erupted in Poland over the suspension of the country’s top jurist.

Protests broke out outside Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal on Friday after the top court announced that its president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, had been suspended amid disagreements over judicial appointments.

Riot police have since been deployed to block protesters from entering the building. Police said they detained at least four people after the protest. Three of them entered the tribunal grounds by climbing over a fence, while the fourth was detained for allegedly insulting a police officer, according to its statement.

Police also said they did not use any form of force, such as batons or handheld gas launchers, against protesters during the incident.

Nawrocki said he canceled his trip to Senegal because of the situation in Poland.

“At a moment like this, the President must be in Poland. I ⁠am cutting short my flight to Senegal. I am returning,” the Polish president said in a post on X.

The conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government, which ruled Poland from 2015 to 2023, appointed Swieczkowski head of the Constitutional Tribunal.

The current government, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, took power in 2023 with a promise to restore the independence of the country’s judiciary. But two successive PiS-aligned presidents, including Nawrocki, have blocked the government’s efforts with vetoes.

Earlier this year, Nawrocki refused to swear in three of six judges nominated by parliament, while Swieczkowski, a former deputy justice minister in the Law and ⁠Justice ​administration, declined to seat judges elected by the current parliamentary majority.

Tusk appeared to defend the court chief’s suspension in a social media post on Oct. 30, saying that it was necessary to restore the rule of law.

“Restoring the rule of law is our duty,” Tusk wrote in a post on X. “After years of lawlessness under PiS leadership, this is a difficult process, sometimes painful, and it requires decisive action. There is no other way.”

Judge Anna Korwin-Piotrowska was appointed to take charge temporarily after Swieczkowski’s suspension.

A video shared by Maciej Berek, who was elected as a Constitutional Tribunal judge in September, appeared to show Nawrocki pushing his way through a group of judges into the building.

Berek later alleged in a subsequent post that Korwin-Piotrowska and other tribunal judges had been waiting at the entrance to meet with the president, but he pushed past them.

U.S. ambassador to Poland Tom Rose described the situation at the tribunal as “very serious.” He urged Polish authorities, government officials, and protesters to refrain from actions that could provoke or further escalation.

Rose said in a social media post that the gathering of thousands of protesters outside the tribunal “makes an already dangerous situation more combustible.”

“We appear to be witnessing an unprecedented confrontation over the government’s use of state power and the independence and authority of a constitutional institution. Both sides offer sharply different accounts of what happened and why,” the U.S. envoy said.

“The last thing Poland needs is a confrontation that spirals into something far worse.”

Rose said that the United States supports Poland and is concerned about the country’s stability, security, and democratic future.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.