Polish police said they detained 76 people and checked nearly 50,000 schools nationwide after attacks at schools earlier in the week left one person dead and several others wounded.
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Polish police said they detained 76 people across Poland and checked nearly 50,000 schools nationwide as part of efforts to prevent further violence following two attacks at schools earlier in the week.
Police said school security was increased on Friday, when some schools suspended classes, many parents kept children at home and police patrols were deployed to educational institutions. Two school attacks earlier in the week left one person dead and several others wounded, including children.
Police said that on Wednesday, a 19-year-old student at a vocational school in the Mazovian province in central Poland attacked fellow students, teachers and passersby with a sharp object, injuring nine people before fleeing and being arrested nearby. The next day, a 15-year-old killed a school custodian and wounded two others in a knife attack at his former school in the same province.
The government’s actions followed warnings and rumours shared by parents online about the possibility of further violence. By Thursday night, reports of coordinated attacks and a “bloody Friday” scenario were being discussed in parents’ online groups and by mainstream media.
On Friday, 59 schools preemptively suspended classes across Poland, with most in the Mazovian district that includes Warsaw. School directors told parents about stepped-up measures such as extra staff at entrances and voluntary backpack checks.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said, “There will be no compromise here. The safety of the youth is the most important thing.”
Police said detainees included a 14-year-old boy from a central district of Warsaw who was found with a knife with a concealed blade and 11 firecrackers, as well as a 16-year-old who came to school with a butterfly knife in his backpack. Police also said some detainees had posted online photos of knives, threatened peers, or threatened school attacks.
Police said the government had found no evidence that an internet challenge promoting school attacks was ongoing, and there was also no official confirmation that the two attacks were linked, though both perpetrators were in custody.
Authorities said extra security measures at schools will continue and crisis training will be organized for those involved.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the government had promised to renew efforts to pass a bill blocking harmful online content, adding: “If that juvenile attacker had streamed the crime online today, we would have been unable to block that content because we have not been given that legal tool.”
Police said that in Thursday’s attack, a 15-year-old who wore a camera to record his actions was eventually overpowered by school director Krzysztof Ochmański. Ochmański later told reporters he said the boy seemed to realize what he was doing and that the attacker asked for help, explaining, “It got to the point where he wanted a hug.”
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