Thousands of Poles took to the streets on Saturday in over 20 cities across the country in protest against the government's drive to reform the Constitutional Tribunal.

Mateusz Kijowski, head of the Committee for the Defence of Democracy (KOD), speaks in Warsaw. Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka

The protests, which were organised by the recently created Committee for the Defence of Democracy (KOD), began at midday, following on from an earlier wave of demonstrations last weekend.

In Warsaw, protesters gathered outside parliament, led by the head of KOD, Mateusz Kijowski.

“We have freedom and we will fight for it and strive for it,” Kijowski declared in the capital.

Besides Warsaw, protests took place in cities including Poznań, Gdańsk, Wrocław, Lublin, Kraków, Katowice and Tarnów.

The conservative Law and Justice party (PiS), which won the 25 October general election, rushed through an amendment after coming to power that paved the way for the appointment of five new judges to the Constitutional Tribunal.

The centrist Civic Platform-led government which preceded PiS had voted through parliament a group of five judges just prior to the election. The tribunal later concluded that two of the judges had been elected prematurely.

President of Poland Andrzej Duda, a former member of Law and Justice, swiftly swore in all of the judges backed by PiS, in spite of objections by the tribunal.

Law and Justice has now created a further draft amendment, which KOD argues also breaks the constitution.



Bomb threat

Meanwhile, the Warsaw protest was dispersed after 2 pm after an anonymous caller telephoned the police with information about a bomb threat.

No explosive material had been found by 3.45 pm. (nh/pk)

