Poland's Tusk defends suspending court chief as protests turn to clashes

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk defended his suspension of the president of the Constitutional Tribunal on Saturday, as demonstrators gathered again and the European Commission urged President Karol Nawrocki to recognise judges Tusk has appointed.

DW reported that protesters and police clashed during the demonstrations. The Associated Press reported that crowds were gathering again as Tusk defended the suspension. The reports did not give figures for the numbers on the streets, for injuries or for arrests.

The Constitutional Tribunal is the court that rules on whether Polish laws comply with the constitution, and its president is the court's most senior officer. Tusk's government suspended that president and has appointed new judges, a move the Guardian described as an overhaul of the court carried out despite the protests. The reports did not set out the legal grounds the government cited for the suspension, or the tribunal's own account of it.

France 24 reported that the European Commission, the European Union's executive arm, called on Nawrocki to recognise the new judges. Poland's presidency is a separate office from Tusk's government, and the two have been in dispute over control of the appointment process.

The confrontation is unfolding before parliamentary elections due next year. France 24 cited polling that puts Tusk's governing coalition and the nationalist right closely matched.

No figure has been published in the reports reviewed here for how many judges have been appointed, or for how long the suspension of the tribunal's president is meant to last. What the four outlets agree on is that the dispute over who controls the court is unresolved, that Tusk is defending his move publicly, and that opponents of the government are returning to the streets over it.