Bielsko-Biała bus driver detained after xenophobic tirade against Ukrainian girls caught on video
A 54-year-old MZK driver on sick leave was filmed shouting vulgar abuse and threats at a group of teenage Ukrainian girls on bus line 8 in Bielsko-Biała on 12 July. Police detained him within hours, and the municipal carrier has pledged to fire him.
What the video shows
A recording shared online by Ukrainian activist Michał Strelnikov, reportedly made by a 12-year-old Ukrainian girl, captures a man directing a stream of xenophobic abuse at a group of teenage girls on a Bielsko-Biała city bus. The footage, from a Sunday afternoon journey on line 8, shows the man standing near the girls and shouting phrases including "Gówniary wyrosły na naszych pieniądzach" and "To się skończy niedługo. Będziecie wyp****ć na swoją Ukrainę." When one girl asks why he is shouting at her, he tells her not to "pyskować" because she is "not from here." At one point a girl asks him not to touch her, which triggers another outburst. A female passenger intervenes and the man turns his abuse on her as well.
Jest mi zwyczajnie wstyd. Ktoś, kto atakuje dziecko, ten przynosi wstyd naszej Ojczyźnie. Przepraszam tę dziewczynkę i wszystkich tych, którzy przeżywają takie sceny ze strony moich rodaków.
The attacker identified
Miejski Zakład Komunikacyjny in Bielsko-Biała issued a statement on Monday 13 July confirming the man's identity. He is a 54-year-old employee of the municipal carrier, hired as a driver but on extended sick leave. MZK marketing head Natalia Olejniczak told Dziennik Zachodni that the man "will no longer perform his duties" at the company. The statement added that disciplinary measures under labour law will be applied and that MZK will file its own criminal complaint, independent of the police investigation.
Police and government response
Police in Bielsko-Biała acted on their own initiative before the victims' parents filed a formal complaint. Spokesman podkom. Sławomir Kocur confirmed that officers are working to establish the full circumstances of the incident. The man was detained and was being questioned on Monday morning; no charges have been announced yet. Interior minister Marcin Kierwiński posted on X that the attacker had been detained and added a warning.
Każda forma agresji spotka się ze zdecydowaną reakcją Państwa. Niech to będzie przestroga dla każdego hejtera - nie będziecie bezkarni.
Karolina Gałecka, director of the social communication department at MSWiA, called the incident "all the more outrageous because it involves an attack on a child."
The driver's intervention
Analysis of the bus's CCTV, secured by police, revealed that the driver at the wheel reacted to the commotion. He first asked the aggressive passenger to calm down, then engaged in a verbal exchange with him before ordering him off the bus at the next stop. This sequence is not visible on the passenger's phone recording. MZK stated it is in continuous contact with the police and the city mayor, and has offered to reach out to the victims to discuss support and redress.
Broader context of anti-Ukrainian incidents
The Bielsko-Biała attack follows several recent anti-Ukrainian incidents in Poland. At the start of July a 19-year-old Ukrainian man was assaulted in Wrocław moments after speaking to his mother on the phone in Ukrainian; he suffered a broken nose and spinal injuries. On 26 June a 14-year-old Ukrainian boy named Dawid was punched in the face at a bus stop in Warsaw after refusing to perform scooter tricks for a peer; the peer's father allegedly joined the attack, leaving the boy with a black eye and bruises. Public reaction to the Bielsko-Biała video was swift, with journalists Tomasz Terlikowski and Robert Mazurek both condemning the attack and linking it to a climate of anti-Ukrainian rhetoric.
