Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk: Ladies and gentlemen, yesterday we witnessed disgraceful events outside the Constitutional Court building. I sincerely hope that we will never have to see similar scenes in Poland again. But the way to keep peace cannot be to give in to lawlessness and violence. A democratic state must be strong and able to enforce justice. The attack on the court and its judges is another step in the process of destroying the rule of law in Poland by PiS and Presidents Duda and Nawrocki. Together with the parliamentary majority, I made attempts to reform the court. No one had any doubt that the tribunal in the version imposed by PiS was not a real court. This was the assessment of international institutions, Polish legal authorities and public opinion. To simplify matters, let me use a comparison. Imagine a situation where a thief steals an elderly woman's handbag and runs away. When he is caught, he starts screaming that he is being abused and calls it theft when someone tries to take back his loot. Meanwhile, some bystanders, the so-called people of both sides, suggest that to calm things down, the thief and the victim should divide the contents of the bag equally. For years there have been organizations and politicians in Poland who want to destroy democracy and the rule of law. And it is no coincidence that they find support among pro-Russian forces around the world. And today, in this conflict, they enjoy the support of an army of Russian bots on the Internet. They even received public compliments from the Kremlin's chief ideologue.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk: Ladies and gentlemen, yesterday we witnessed disgraceful events outside the Constitutional Court building. I sincerely hope that we will never have to see similar scenes in Poland again. But the way to keep peace cannot be to give in to lawlessness and violence. A democratic state must be strong and able to enforce justice. The attack on the court and its judges is another step in the process of destroying the rule of law in Poland by PiS and Presidents Duda and Nawrocki. Together with the parliamentary majority, I made attempts to reform the court. No one had any doubt that the tribunal in the version imposed by PiS was not a real court. This was the assessment of international institutions, Polish legal authorities and public opinion. To simplify matters, let me use a comparison. Imagine a situation where a thief steals an elderly woman's handbag and runs away. When he is caught, he starts screaming that he is being abused and calls it theft when someone tries to take back his loot. Meanwhile, some bystanders, the so-called people of both sides, suggest that to calm things down, the thief and the victim should divide the contents of the bag equally. For years there have been organizations and politicians in Poland who want to destroy democracy and the rule of law. And it is no coincidence that they find support among pro-Russian forces around the world. And today, in this conflict, they enjoy the support of an army of Russian bots on the Internet. They even received public compliments from the Kremlin's chief ideologue.