Polish leader gives refuge to convicted politicians as police bid to arrest them

Poland’s President Andrzej Duda (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru, File)

Poland’s president has given refuge to two politicians convicted of abuse of power, welcoming the members of the former ruling party into the presidential palace as police went to their homes to arrest them.

The legal drama is building into a stand-off between the new government, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and Law and Justice, the national conservative party that governed Poland for eight years until last month after its defeat in a general election in October.