Duda accuses Tusk of ignoring ABW warning after school knife attacks

Duda's accusations

Former president Andrzej Duda published a sharp post on X addressed to Donald Tusk, accusing the prime minister of stoking hatred and of ignoring warnings about violence in schools. Duda, who served as president from 2015 to 2025, pointed back to 2010, when he said Tusk tolerated rudeness and violence toward people defending a cross on Krakowskie Przedmieście. He also accused Tusk's circle of spreading the eight-stars slogan, a vulgar chant aimed at Law and Justice, and wrote that media reports said Tusk had an ABW report warning of a likely wave of school violence on his desk for half a year. Jacek Dobrzyński, spokesman for the minister coordinating the special services, answered Duda by promoting the ABW report without directly addressing his accusations. Duda closed his post with a direct charge.

You are destroying the social fabric in Poland. You are intelligent and have great political experience. I believe you are doing it deliberately.

The attacks in Mazovia

On Wednesday a 19-year-old attacked nine people with a knife at Zespół Szkół Zawodowych nr 4 in Ostrołęka, injuring five students, two teachers and two bystanders. He also carried a backpack containing homemade explosive material. The same day police in Sierpc detained a 17-year-old who had told classmates he planned to do something bad at school. On Thursday a 15-year-old attacked a primary school in Leszczydół-Nowiny, and accounts differ on the damage: one report says he killed a 37-year-old school worker and then wounded a teacher and the headmaster, while another says he wounded three people, one fatally.

Government response and the challenge rumours

On Saturday, Dorota Gawryluk criticised Tusk on Polsat News' programme Kalejdoskop wydarzeń, alongside Jan Wróbel. Gawryluk said Tusk spoke on Thursday about an online challenge that had been circulating as rumour, while police had not confirmed that any organised campaign existed. Her own approach, she said, was to avoid drawing hasty conclusions and to stick to what was known for certain.

I thought the government would do the same.

Gawryluk praised the first reaction of Education Minister Barbara Nowacka, who urged teachers to talk with pupils and calm them, but argued that the prime minister's later statement could have had the opposite effect. Wprost and Niezależna reported that the ruling coalition was blaming President Karol Nawrocki, including for his veto of a law linked to the EU's DSA act. On Thursday the Sejm adopted a new draft law allowing the blocking of illegal content online.

Police operation and school closures

Police launched a nationwide operation that had detained 76 people by Saturday morning. Officers recorded 231 incidents involving suspected offences by 6am on Saturday, according to Niezależna. Nearly 60 schools cancelled classes on Friday because of concerns for the safety of pupils, teachers and staff. Gawryluk's programme reported that officers had checked nearly 50,000 facilities by Saturday morning.

What the ABW report said

An ABW conference held at its headquarters in April presented the findings of Diagnoza Młodzieży 2026. According to the published data, 47% of 13 to 16-year-olds reported above-average contact with antisocial content, and 44% had difficulty telling true information from false. ABW chief Colonel Rafał Syrysko warned that radicalisation increasingly comes through brutal footage, the glorification of mass murderers and online communities that normalise violence. Duda's post relied on that warning, which ABW had presented months before the recent attacks.