Outside the tribunal, protesters clashed with police, who said objects had been thrown at officers and three people detained after climbing over the court’s fence. Police said they had deployed to maintain security following warnings of threats to judges and staff, but had not entered the building.

PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński took part in the protest and tried to force his way into the court building. He accused Tusk of staging a “coup” against the court and turning Poland into a “police state,” and demanded presidential intervention.

President Karol Nawrocki, a PiS ally and rival of Tusk, interrupted his official trip to Senegal, declaring, “At a moment like this, the president must be in Poland.”

Tusk was defiant. “Restoring the rule of law is our duty,” he wrote on X. “After years of PiS lawlessness, it’s a difficult, sometimes painful process that requires decisive action. There is no other way.”

The tribunal, which can strike down legislation, helped impose a near-total abortion ban under PiS and challenged the supremacy of EU law. Last December, the EU’s top court ruled that it failed to meet European standards of judicial independence.

But efforts to change the court’s makeup have met resistance. Nawrocki refused to swear in five judges elected by Tusk’s parliamentary majority. They took their oaths in parliament instead, but Święczkowski barred them from hearing cases.