Protests against court reform erupt in major cities

On Tuesday protests broke out in front of courts in major Polish cities – Warsaw, Gdańsk, Poznań, and Kraków. Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party lowered the mandatory retirement age to 65 from 70 for Supreme Court justices earlier this year. The measure may affect more than one-third of 73 judges. The protesters expressed support for the Supreme Court chief justice Małgorzata Gersdorf, aged 65, whose term was set to expire in 2020. Gersdorf refused to comply with the law change. She added that Józef Iwulski (chosen by President Andrzej Duda as an interim chief justice) would temporarily replace her, while she is on holiday. The former Polish president Lech Wałęsa spoke to the protesters in Gdańsk. "I would like to bring about 100,000 people in Warsaw and then I have a plan to make an order in Polish matters," he said.