Poland's president calls emergency talks as police surround top court in judicial crisis

Poland's President Karol Nawrocki convened emergency consultations with political party representatives on Saturday over a constitutional crisis involving the country's top court, pitting Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist government against the nationalist right. Nawrocki cut short a trip to Senegal and returned to Warsaw, where police surrounded the Constitutional Tribunal building on Friday after its president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, was suspended. Tusk's government has spent weeks trying to remove judges appointed by the previous Law and Justice (PiS) government, which ruled from 2015 to 2023. The court has often ruled in favor of Polish law taking precedence over EU law, drawing repeated criticism from Brussels that it was too close to the nationalist government. Nawrocki, who is nationalist-leaning, denounced a "violation of the constitutional order" and demanded police withdraw from the court's perimeter. Dozens of officers remained deployed on Saturday as PiS supporters protested, with some shouting "Tusk traitor" and attempting to breach security barriers. Police reported three arrests, while the court's official X account denounced a "coup d'état." The US ambassador urged restraint, and political scientist Ewa Marciniak noted that upcoming legislative elections in November 2027 are heightening tensions. Tusk, a pro-EU advocate, has promised to resolve the conflict with Brussels, but Nawrocki has blocked his judicial appointments.