Uniformed Zamość students reportedly chanted vulgar slogans at Tusk before the Tribunal

What happened

On Friday, 6 November, students of the non-public Liceum Ogólnokształcące Centrum Szkół Mundurowych Zamość im. Powstania Zamojskiego were in Warsaw on a school trip that included a visit to the Sejm. The group then joined a demonstration outside the Constitutional Tribunal, still in their school uniforms. According to OKO.press, which published footage from the scene, the students, under the supervision of female teachers, chanted vulgar slogans aimed at Prime Minister Donald Tusk and a private television broadcaster. Gazeta Wyborcza, cited by Rzeczpospolita, reported that the students had been invited to the Sejm by Sławomir Zawiślak, an MP from the Confederation Crown of Poland party. The number of students differs between accounts: Agnieszka Macek, the school's founder and representative of its managing body, said about 50 aged 15 to 19 took part, while Rzeczpospolita reported that 47 students from the first to fourth grades were sent to Warsaw.

The school's account

Macek told a press conference in Zamość on Monday, 9 November, that the visit to the Tribunal was a spontaneous decision made out of curiosity. She said it came around 16:00, when the students and teachers left the Sejm for the bus, and that the young people expressed that wish while the teachers gave in to their pressure. She described how people at the Tribunal took the group for soldiers and cheered them on.

“They took it to mean that the army was supporting the protest, and everyone who was there surrounded our students and started to congratulate them.”

Macek said two people began chanting, and that the students were carried away by what she called crowd psychology. She said that once the group became a crowd, the teachers pushed through and took the students away after about 10 minutes. The school rejected reports that teachers had not responded, urged people not to judge the case without unknown context and facts, and called the students' conduct inappropriate. Macek said the decision to go to the Tribunal was wrong, apologized to students, parents and citizens, and resigned as representative of the managing body.

Ministry and control

Education Minister Barbara Nowacka wrote on X on Monday that an urgent control was under way, carried out by the Lublin education superintendent's office. Later she said she had heard Macek's statement and called both the conduct on Friday and the explanation given on Monday outrageous. Artur Pawłowski, spokesman for the Lublin office, said the inspection began on Monday and would continue on Tuesday, 10 November, and that details would not be disclosed.

“We do not want to prejudge the whole matter before the control is completed.”

Pawłowski said results would be shared in the week of 16 November 2026 at the earliest. On X, Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, head of the Ministry of National Defence, wrote that a uniform cannot be used to express views.

“A uniform cannot be used to manifest any views whatsoever.”

He said the Central Military Recruitment Centre was analysing the events and was in contact with the Lublin office, and that further ministry decisions would follow the control report.

Political reaction

The case quickly became political. Lawyer Bartosz Lewandowski wrote on X that the ministry's control was meant to intimidate young people who protest against the government. wPolityce linked the protest to a dispute over the Tribunal's leadership, and noted that the school trains future police and Border Guard officers. Polsat News reported that after 30 October, representatives of a group of judges chosen by the current Sejm said Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, as the most senior judge, had taken over leadership of the court and suspended the duties of TK president Bogdan Święczkowski. Zamość mayor Rafał Zwolak also commented on the students' participation in the demonstration.

What comes next

The school's management and teaching council is due to meet on Tuesday, 10 November, to decide on consequences for the students, with each one assessed individually, according to Macek. The Lublin control results are not expected before the week of 16 November 2026.