Warsaw, Poland – Helmeted riot police clashed with angry protesters outside Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal as a bitter fight over control of the country’s top court spilled onto the streets.

Footage filmed by czaplinskiii on October 30 shows officers with shields and white helmets pushing against a tightly packed crowd waving red-and-white Polish flags. People are crushed against the police line as shouting erupts, while others hold up phones to record the chaotic scene.

“This is what Tusk’s terrifying smiling anti-democracy looks like,” the filmer wrote, accusing the government of turning Poles against each other.

Police were deployed to the court on Aleja Szucha after a statement announced that tribunal president Bogdan Święczkowski and his deputy had been suspended for one month. Supporters of the opposition Law and Justice party (PiS) gathered in protest, and the court’s official account described the move as a “coup d’état”. Warsaw police said objects were thrown at officers and three people were detained after climbing the fence into the court grounds.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk defended the move as restoring the rule of law, while President Karol Nawrocki called off a trip to Senegal mid-flight and later entered the court building.

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