Warsaw: Police release footage of Marszałkowska street intervention

In brief

The Metropolitan Police released bodycam footage from October 16 showing the escape and immobilization of a detained protester.
The intervening officer was hospitalized, a pocketknife was seized from the man, and the prosecutor is seeking a one-month detention.
Piotr W.'s lawyers report interference with legal counsel and poor health, while politicians dispute the brutality of the services.

Course of the intervention captured on police footage

The incident occurred on Friday, October 16, at Marszałkowska 7 in Warsaw, near Adam Borowski's office. At the same time, a protest related to the Constitutional Tribunal was taking place nearby.

The bodycam footage shows a patrol approaching a man standing near a pedestrian crossing. The officers identified themselves and requested identification. The passerby remained silent. When asked to step aside, the man pushed the officers and began to run.

The chase ended in the vestibule of a nearby building. Officers tackled the runner to the ground and immobilized him. Piotr W. shouted that he was being attacked and choked. The intervening officer replied that he was not choking him. The policewoman informed the man of his arrest on charges of insulting an officer and violating their physical integrity. Other people in the building are visible in the frame, including a woman who obstructed the officers and ignored calls to move away.

Metropolitan Police position and the issue of contact with counsel

The Metropolitan Police stated that the detainee offered active and passive resistance from the beginning. During the incident, the intervening officer sustained injuries and was taken to the hospital. A knife was found on the man during a search.

The police also published a second recording, intended to prove that the detainee had declined legal support himself. In the video from the station, an officer asks if the man wants to contact attorney Magdalena Leszczyńska, noting that providing personal data is a requirement. Piotr W. replied that he did not know her, and when asked for his name and address, he replied that he did not have to provide them. He also refused to sign a written statement.

The authorities denied media reports of a cut on the detainee's head. The footage from the station shows the man sitting on a cot under his own power. The Warsaw-Śródmieście District Prosecutor's Office has filed a motion with the court for a one-month temporary arrest of the suspect.

Allegations by legal counsel and statement by Piotr W.

The man's defense attorneys present a completely different picture. Attorney Magdalena Prządka-Leszczyńska indicated that the officer in the video withheld the information that counsel had been appointed by the detainee's wife. Piotr W. therefore did not know who he was supposed to talk to.

His lawyer, Bartosz Malewski, head of the Independence March Association, accused the police of violating the right to defense. Officers did not leave the room during his conversation with the client. Malewski stated that Piotr W. could barely sit, felt threatened, and initially did not even know the formal reasons for his arrest.

In a statement published by Ordo Iuris, Piotr W. demanded contact with his wife and the lawyers she appointed. He denied rejecting legal defense. He indicated that he refused to talk to an unknown person due to a lack of trust, and that he did not receive a CT scan or neurological consultation at the hospital. He stated that he is not eating. As attorney Magdalena Majkowska reported, the man fainted at the end of the proceedings at the prosecutor's office, and an ambulance was called.

Political reactions to the intervention at the Constitutional Tribunal

The incident on Marszałkowska immediately sparked a political clash. TV Republika head Tomasz Sakiewicz warned that the detained associate of Borowski was unconscious and taken away in handcuffs after a police attack on the office. PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński called the intervention a violent attack on the premises and appeared in the evening with a group of MPs at the Wilcza Street police station. MP Marek Suski argued in an interview with PAP that the policewoman had choked the man, causing him to lose consciousness. Marek Jakubiak spoke directly of a man being beaten.

Former Minister of Culture Piotr Gliński specified on social media that the seized knife was a small tourist pocketknife, used at the campsite in front of the Tribunal for cutting fruit.

Government representatives stood by the intervening officers. Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that the man armed with a knife had attacked an officer on duty and would face the consequences, and that political blame for fueling aggression lies with the PiS leader and President Karol Nawrocki. Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński informed TVN24 that the hospitalized officer is feeling well, announcing the absolute prosecution of any attack on the uniform. The spokesperson for the minister coordinator of special services, Jacek Dobrzyński, considered the police video to be the final debunking of the opposition's narrative.

Sources

Article prepared with the help of artificial intelligence based on: Gazeta.pl, Polsat News, RMF24, Radio Zachód, Fakt, Zero.pl. Facts checked automatically against these sources. The Wiadomości PRO newsroom is responsible for this publication.