ABSTRACT
Until recently, freedom of assembly was one of the best-established constitutional freedoms in the Polish legal order. On the level of law application, the interpretation of the circumstances justifying the restriction of freedom of assembly has been controversial. Poland's regulation of restrictions on constitutional rights during states of emergency was put to the test with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and, subsequently, during the humanitarian crisis on the Poland–Belarus border. In both cases, particular problems arose in the context of restrictions on freedom of assembly. The context related to the rule-of-law crisis in Poland was also important for assessing the introduced restrictions. For adequate protection of freedom of assembly, the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic is more challenging. The question arises as to whether the requirements laid down in Polish law to restrict freedom of assembly are adequate for the purpose of preventing epidemic threats. In the case of the humanitarian crisis at the border, the violation of freedom of assembly was primarily due to the lack of a judicial review of the constitutionality of the acts of the legislative and executive branches of government.
