Protests outside Poland’s constitutional court: What’s the crisis about?

Riot police have been deployed outside Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal as a dispute over who should serve on the court escalates into a confrontation between Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government and the nationalist opposition. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Warsaw building on Friday night after judges elected by the current parliamentary majority announced the suspension of the tribunal’s president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, and his deputy, Bartlomiej Sochanski. The move drew condemnation from the far-right opposition Law and Justice party, known as PiS, and prompted President Karol Nawrocki, a PiS ally, to abandon a trip to Senegal, turning his plane around to return to Poland on Friday.