Police account of the Marszałkowska Street incident

Officers were securing an assembly outside the Constitutional Tribunal (TK) on Friday, 16 October, when they noticed a man whose behaviour and nervousness drew their attention. According to the Capital Police Headquarters (KSP), he began walking towards Marszałkowska Street and ran into a building near Aleja Szucha and Plac Unii Lubelskiej when officers approached to check his identity. Inside, police said, he behaved aggressively, attacked a policewoman and caused an injury to her head. She was taken to hospital for treatment, while officers subdued and detained the man. A knife was found under his jacket, and Polsat News reported that he was also taken to hospital.

Kaczyński and TV Republika's version

Jarosław Kaczyński wrote on X about a forceful attack on the office of Adam Borowski, a PiS-linked social activist and candidate for the Ombudsman post, and called for a rally in defence of the Tribunal planned for Saturday, 17 October. His post read:

“A forceful attack on the office of Adam Borowski, an exceptionally deserving man! Smashed windows, beaten-up associates. The methods of this government are violence and aggression.”

TV Republika, whose chief Tomasz Sakiewicz reported the story on air, described a woman as the aggressor and a man linked to the protest as beaten. Sakiewicz said a Borowski collaborator had been carried away unconscious and in handcuffs. Borowski said force had been used against a Polish Armed Forces soldier present at the office, who had come to support defenders of the Tribunal. Police denied that officers had stormed any building and said the purpose of the intervention was to check the identity of a man acting suspiciously.

The detained man was a former soldier who had joined the protest camp in front of the Tribunal for several days. PiS MP Marek Jakubiak said on wPolsce24 that he found him at the emergency department on Lindleya Street, where he had a swollen forehead with a cut, was handcuffed and sat in a wheelchair, guarded by five police officers.

Government response and prosecutor notification

Interior minister Marcin Kierwiński announced that the ministry would file a notification with prosecutors concerning TV Republika's journalists and Tomasz Sakiewicz:

“Because of growing aggression against police officers, we decided to file a notification about a possible crime committed by TV Republika journalists and Mr Sakiewicz.”

He said the complaint would cover defamation of officers, insults towards them, calls to abandon official duties, calls to disclose officers' private lives and influence on official actions. Ministry spokesperson Karolina Gałecka said the broadcaster's coverage was dehumanising officers and that the ministry would defend them. naTemat.pl reported that the station had called officers 'trained dogs' and 'executioners in blue uniforms'.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted on X on Friday afternoon:

“A man with a knife in his pocket attacked a policewoman guarding order outside the Constitutional Tribunal. He has been detained and will answer before the law.”

Tusk also assigned political responsibility for the rise in aggression to President Karol Nawrocki and Jarosław Kaczyński.

Tribunal standoff behind the clashes

Protesters linked to the Ruch Obrony Granic and Gazeta Polska clubs have been in front of the Tribunal for several weeks, and PiS politicians regularly join them. The escalation came on Wednesday, 14 October, when Maciej Berek, chosen by the Sejm in early September as a judge, took his oath in the Sejm with the phrasing 'before the president'. TK president Bogdan Święczkowski, who has kept Berek from working, went out to the demonstrators and asked them to lower the emotions. On Thursday, 15 October, Berek said Święczkowski bore personal responsibility for the situation. Police also intervened inside the Tribunal building, where a dispute over five judges sworn in before the Sejm has been unfolding.