Poland checks schools after third youth stabbing attack in four days, 117 detained

Three attacks in four days

Poland has recorded three youth stabbing attacks in four days, the latest on Saturday at a further education college in Warsaw. On Wednesday 7 October, a 19-year-old attacked people with a knife and a hatchet at Zespół Szkół Zawodowych nr 4 in Ostrołęka, north of Warsaw, wounding nine people according to prosecutors. RMF24 and Onet reported that he also carried a backpack containing homemade explosive material.

On Thursday 8 October, a 15-year-old former pupil wearing a helmet-mounted camera attacked three staff members at a primary school in Leszczydół-Nowiny, northeast of Warsaw. Daria, a 37-year-old woman who worked as the school caretaker, died. The headteacher, Krzysztof Ochmański, restrained the boy and suffered superficial wounds, while a female teacher was taken to hospital.

On Saturday at 12:30, a 21-year-old woman who studies at a further education college in Warsaw attacked three women there with a knife. Police spokesperson Jakub Filipiak told Reuters:

At 12:30 today, we received a report of an incident involving the use of a dangerous weapon.

According to police, a 17-year-old girl was taken to hospital with cut wounds to her forearm that were not life-threatening. The two other women, aged 17 and 24, had no cut wounds and were not hospitalised. PAP reported that preliminary findings indicated the attacker and victims did not know one another.

Police checks and detentions

Police counts have risen with each update. By 5 pm on Friday 9 October, police had checked nearly 35,000 facilities, recorded 172 incidents and detained 59 people. By 6 am on Saturday 10 October, the detention count stood at 76.

By 6 am on Sunday 11 October, police reported more than 64,000 facilities checked, 275 incidents in which officers were acting on suspicion of an offence, and 117 people detained. Interior minister Marcin Kierwiński put the detention figure at 117, said cases were referred to prosecutors or family courts, and said more than 65,000 schools had been inspected so far.

In Sierpc, police prevented a probable attack. A 17-year-old who threatened to "do something bad" was charged by prosecutors and remanded in custody for two months. From Friday, schools and kindergartens in Mazovia were under extra police monitoring, supported by municipal guards. PAP reported that 10,000 officers would guard schools on Sunday, and that police patrols would return to schools on Monday and stay there until further notice.

Government response

Prime Minister Donald Tusk convened a meeting on Sunday morning with the ministers of education, interior and administration, health and digitisation, the coordinator of special services and representatives of the services. Tusk said the government was not dealing with an organised group behind the attacks.

We are not dealing with any large-scale organised group of people who have a plan to create a sense of threat.

Tusk said the behaviour was often spontaneous and stemmed mainly from online activity. He pointed to popular video games in which violence was appearing in an increasingly visible way, and warned that even pranks meant to scare people "for kicks" create a real threat.

We certainly are not going to control schools with police methods.

Tusk said parents were beginning to check what their children follow online, which he called a positive aspect of the situation. He ruled out radical internet censorship as a response.