A political crisis in Poland in late October was accompanied by protests and a confrontation over the leadership of the Constitutional Tribunal. Images of police officers near the institution circulated on social media, where several posts suggested that a coup was underway. In Albania, the developments were reported under headlines referring to a police raid on the court and escalating tensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCoup in Poland? Police raid Constitutional Tribunal offices! Tensions rise,\u201d the Instagram news page \u201cPrime Web\u201d\u00a0reported<\/a>, accompanying its post with footage of police officers in the streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Warsaw Police denied that officers had entered the court building in an\u00a0official statement<\/a>\u00a0issued on October 30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe categorically emphasize that the Police are not inside the premises of the Constitutional Tribunal,\u201d the institution stated in its announcement published on its official website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Polish authorities, police had been called in to ensure security following requests from the Prosecutor General and a female judge of the Tribunal. Officers operated exclusively outside the building, where protesters had gathered. Police also reported detaining three individuals who had crossed the court\u2019s perimeter fence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dozens of online media and social media posts began circulating on Friday evening, emphasizing the possibility of a coup despite the absence of circumstances supporting such a characterization. A coup d\u2019\u00e9tat refers to the sudden and unlawful seizure of power, typically organized by a limited group of individuals within political or military structures, through the use or threat of force, with the aim of overthrowing a government and taking control of state institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Poland is currently facing a dispute over the leadership and functioning of its Constitutional Tribunal. Prime Minister Donald Tusk\u2019s government presents its judicial reforms as efforts to restore the rule of law, while its opponents question the legality of the government\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Facebook, the page \u201cIDEALISTI-al\u201d\u00a0portrayed<\/a>\u00a0Poland\u2019s institutional crisis as an attempted \u201ccoup\u201d, linking the developments to alleged United States involvement in the country\u2019s political affairs. The post claimed that \u201cthe USA is removing Tusk\u201d and suggested that Prime Minister Donald Tusk was no longer accepted by the Polish people. It further claimed that President Karol Nawrocki, described as a close friend of Donald Trump, would play a role in removing him from office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The post concluded with the assertion that \u201cTusk must be removed, and he will be removed,\u201d combining reporting on a real event with political opinions and unsupported claims about a potential change of government in Poland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the claim that the United States was involved in efforts to remove Prime Minister Tusk is not supported by evidence, US Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose described the situation as an unprecedented institutional confrontation in a\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0on October 30 and called for restraint to prevent further escalation. He stressed that the United States should neither judge nor interfere in Poland\u2019s internal affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless, the \u201cIDEALISTI-al\u201d post shifted attention away from the dispute over the Constitutional Tribunal\u2019s leadership and towards a narrative of American intervention and the possible removal of the government, without providing sources to substantiate these claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the Instagram page \u201cXmedia.al\u201d\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0the event under the headline: \u201cDeep crisis in Poland, police \u2018raid\u2019 Constitutional Tribunal offices! Allegations of a \u2018coup d\u2019\u00e9tat\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The use of the term \u201craid\u201d created the impression that police forces had entered the institution to conduct an operation. However, according to the\u00a0official statement<\/a>\u00a0issued by Warsaw Police, officers had been deployed outside the court to maintain security and public order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, \u201cNewsmax Balkans Albania\u201d published a video with the\u00a0caption<\/a>\u00a0\u201cUsurpation of power\u201d, linking this characterization to the Polish president\u2019s urgent return to Warsaw and the presence of police near the Constitutional Tribunal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the description accompanying the video referred to the institutional crisis, protests, and confrontation between the government and opposition, the use of the phrase \u201cusurpation of power\u201d in the headline, without clearly identifying who was making the accusation, risked presenting a contested political interpretation as a confirmed factual development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In another Instagram\u00a0post<\/a>, the page \u201cBota n\u00eb fokus\u201d used the headline: \u201cCrisis erupts in Poland: Police surround Constitutional Tribunal, president cuts trip short.\u201d The accompanying description stated that the court had referred to a \u201ccoup d\u2019\u00e9tat\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike posts suggesting international interference or a raid on the institution, this report also included Prime Minister Donald Tusk\u2019s position that the government\u2019s actions were intended to restore the rule of law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the general use of the term \u201cthe Court\u201d when referring to allegations made by its contested leadership did not sufficiently clarify that the dispute concerned the legitimacy of the institution\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An analysis of these publications by the Resilience Observatory at Amfora Media identified different ways in which the same event was presented, ranging from headlines exaggerating police actions to contested allegations of power usurpation and unsupported claims of American intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The allegations of a coup did not originate with the protests. The head of the Constitutional Tribunal, Bogdan \u015awi\u0119czkowski, had already referred to a \u201cconstitutional coup\u201d on October 15, according to\u00a0Polish Radio<\/a>. However, this was an allegation made in the context of the institutional confrontation, rather than an established fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In another\u00a0video<\/a>, the news page \u201cPrime\u201d portrayed President Karol Nawrocki as the person who had stopped Prime Minister Tusk\u2019s alleged coup attempt. Meanwhile, outside Albania, several English-language social media accounts also linked the developments to the European Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Instagram, the political content account \u201cThe Chronicler Files<\/a>\u201d portrayed the events as an attempted coup and called for military intervention. Meanwhile, the Australian platform \u201cThe Adelaide Set<\/a>\u201d claimed that the EU wanted to control Poland\u2019s courts in order to force the country to accept migrants and transform Europe into a \u201ccaliphate\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, official EU documents concerning\u00a0funding<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0migration<\/a>\u00a0do not support this claim. They provide no evidence that the EU is seeking to take control of Poland\u2019s courts to force the country to accept migrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n