Why did a stand-off erupt at Poland’s presidential palace?

Poland is witnessing a dramatic stand-off between its new and old governments. On Tuesday, the police arrested two politicians convicted of abuse of power who had sought refuge in the presidential palace. The tiff is between the new regime of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Andrzej Duda – who is aligned with the now ousted conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) which governed Poland for eight years until it was defeated in a general election in October. Duda, who has made it clear that he will oppose Tusk’s agenda, is in his second and final term which ends in mid-2025. But what happened exactly? And what do we know about the clash? Let’s take a closer look: What happened? On Tuesday, Duda welcomed ex-interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski and his former deputy Maciej Wasik into the presidential palace even as the police went to their homes to arrest them. The men, members of the former ruling party, were convicted of abuse of power for actions taken in 2007. Both men served in the previous Law and Justice-led government. Kaminski is a former head of the Central Anticorruption Bureau who was convicted along with Wasik and two others of abusing their power for creating a provocation in a sting operation seeking to frame their targets.

That scandal contributed to the collapse of Law and Justice’s first government.

In 2015, Duda pardoned both Kaminski and Wasik. However, legal experts have argued that such pardons are reserved for cases that have gone through all appeals. In June, Poland’s Supreme Court overturned the pardons and ordered a retrial. Kaminski and Wasik, who were re-elected as lawmakers in October,  were sentenced to two years in prison in December by a lower court. A court on Monday issued orders for police to arrest them and deliver them to prison. However, the Constitutional Tribunal, a top court stacked with Law and Justice loyalists, has claimed that the pardon is legal, as per Politico.EU. “We do not acknowledge it, it is not a judgment for us; it is a total lawlessness,” Kamiński was quoted as saying by Politico.EU after the verdict. Wąsik added, “We do not feel guilty, we do not feel convicted. We have been properly pardoned by the president.” [caption id=“attachment_13597442” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Poland’s new Prime Minister Donald Tusk has vowed to restore ‘rule of law’ in Poland. AP[/caption] Both men insist that they are innocent, and Duda claims that the pardons remain valid. On Tuesday, Duda invited Kaminski and Wasik to his palace for a ceremony where he appointed two officials who had worked for them as his new advisers. His office posted a photo of him posing with all four. The two men came out of the palace briefly to speak to journalists hours before their arrest.

“We are not hiding,” Kaminski said.

“We are currently with the president of the Republic of Poland until evil loses.” “We are dealing with a very serious state crisis. A grim dictatorship is being created,” Kaminski added as per BBC. Polish media then reported the men were arrested inside the palace. Warsaw police gave no details, saying only that the arrest was “in accordance with the court order.” But Politico.EU reported that the police moved in after President Duda left to meet with Belarusian Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Why the clash? The Law and Justice Party had taken control of the media, the courts and state-owned corporations over the past eight years. As per The Telegraph, the Polish Society of Journalists said that Poland’s public media had essentially become a propaganda tool for the state. The party during its tenure campaigned against LGBTQ rights and targeted migrants. According to BBC, international groups accused the Law and Justice Party of undermining the rule of law.

Tusk campaigned on restoring democratic norms in Poland.

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In October, a coalition led by Tusk secured a decisive majority in the parliamentary election. His coalition is now trying to take control of institutions still stacked with PiS loyalists. As per BBC, the coalition government has attempted to reform media by sacking the boards and installing its own people ahead of legislative action. However, critics have argued it is following the same playbook as PiS. The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights said the new government’s changes “raise serious doubts”. Former PiS prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki told the BBC, “We are witnessing an unprecedented attack on the rule of law. Tusk’s government decided it could take over public television and media by force. This has nothing to do with democratic standards. We have not seen such brutal government action since communism. It is all the more outrageous that this is done by people who have such slogans of democracy on their lips.” But some say such claims coming from the PiS is rich given their track record, as per BBC. “A lot depends on the determination of the new government and how far it will go run restoring Poland to the rule of law,” Jakub Jaraczewski, a researcher at NGO Democracy Reporting International told Politico.EU. ‘Very dangerous situation’ Tusk accused the president of going along with actions by Law and Justice to create chaos and instability after its electoral defeat, saying that Duda “must stop this spectacle, which is leading to a very dangerous situation.” The prime minister claimed that the president was obstructing justice by giving the wanted men refuge. At a news conference, he read out a section of the penal code that he alleged Duda had violated, which carries a prison term from three months to five years.

“I just want the president to be aware of what his political friends have tricked him into,” Tusk said.

Meanwhile, parliamentary speaker, Szymon Holownia, postponed a planned session of the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, which had been scheduled to start on Wednesday, until next week. Kaminski and Wasik said they wanted to take part in the session, even though Holownia and others insist that, under the law, their guilty sentences strip them of their parliamentary mandates. “Maybe it’s even a good thing that this whole crisis happened, because everyone can see what kind of mess PiS, unfortunately, hand-in-hand with President Duda, has led to by ‘reforming’ the Polish justice system,” Hołownia was quoted as saying by Politico.EU. Holownia said the situation had created a “deep constitutional crisis … that does not guarantee that the Sejm’s deliberations this week would be peaceful.” “There is no guarantee that this week, so hectic, fraught with all sorts of settlements, decisions, brawls, reports, will run smoothly,” Hołownia added. Tusk’s allies welcomed the arrests, saying they marked a return to officials being held accountable. “Let this be a warning to politicians for the next generation,” foreign minister Radek Sikorski posted on social media. As per DW, interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said “everyone is equal before the law.” “The rule of law is finally working,” Michał Szczerba, an MP with the Civic Coalition, posted on X. Morawiecki was among Law and Justice officials who voiced outrage, describing the arrested men as “political prisoners.” Meanwhile, DW reported that PiS supporters have congregated outside the presidential palace and the police station. They chanted “free political prisoners” and “shame!” PiS spokesperson Rafał Bochenek also called the politicians “political prisoners” on social media. He called their arrest “an illegal kidnapping and a violation of all democratic rules.” With inputs from agencies