Riot police deployed to Poland’s constitutional court after judge suspended

President Karol Nawrocki seen struggling to gain entry to court building in Warsaw amid long-running row over the court’s legitimacy

Riot police were locked in a tense standoff with protesters outside Poland’s constitutional court on Friday night after its top judge was suspended in the latest escalation in a decade-long dispute over the court’s legal status.

The clashes followed a controversial decision by a group of government-appointed judges to suspend the court’s contested president, Bogdan Święczkowski, and his deputy, Bartłomiej Sochański, amid disagreements over the bench’s legitimacy.

The move prompted a furious reaction from the rightwing opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, with its leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, condemning what he claimed was an “assault” on the court.