Polish police check nearly 50,000 schools as 76 people are detained after knife attacks

Attacks in three towns and Warsaw

On 29 September a 13-year-old attacked two teachers and a classmate at a primary school in Staszków, a village and municipality in the north of the country. One teacher died at the scene, the second was taken to hospital with a stab wound to the abdomen, and the pupil died the same day. On Wednesday 7 October a 19-year-old wounded nine people with a knife at a vocational school in Ostrołęka, north of Warsaw, two of them seriously according to German reports. On Thursday 8 October a 15-year-old attacked staff at a primary school in Leszczydół-Nowiny, about 70 kilometres northeast of Warsaw, where the 37-year-old caretaker died. Prosecutors say the Ostrołęka attacker used a knife and a hatchet, and Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the 15-year-old wore a helmet with a camera to film his attack. In the Ostrołęka and Leszczydół-Nowiny attacks combined, one person died and eleven were wounded.

On Saturday a 21-year-old pupil stabbed a 17-year-old at an adult school on Mińska Street in Warsaw, and two other women, aged 17 and 24, were hurt. The 17-year-old suffered cuts to her forearm, and her life is not in danger. Investigators said the attack was entirely random. Jacek Wiśniewski, spokesman for the Warsaw police, said the information gathered so far did not confirm a link to any chain of copycat incidents, and that after her arrest the woman did not want to cooperate or say why she attacked.

Police checks and patrols

Tusk ordered regular police checks in all schools across the country on Thursday. On Friday 24,000 officers, supported by municipal guards, monitored schools and their surroundings, while the CBZC, working with ABW, watched the internet. An earlier police update covering checks up to 5 pm on Friday reported nearly 35,000 facilities checked, 172 incidents and 59 people detained. By 6 am on Saturday police said nearly 50,000 facilities had been checked, 231 incidents registered and 76 people detained, and no information had yet been released about who the detainees are.

Police spokesperson Iwona Kijowska told PAP that patrols would return to schools on Monday and stay as long as needed.

We have no specific period set for how long the patrols will be present in schools. They will be there for as long as the need exists.

Officers will patrol around schools on foot and by car, enter school grounds to speak with staff and management, and search backpacks when they consider it justified, for example if someone appears to be carrying a dangerous object. Kijowska also said officers will talk with pupils about recent events and the legal consequences of such behaviour.

Young people are usually unaware of the consequences of their actions and think that posting threats online is a form of joke. The talks are meant to make them understand that this is not the case.

Garwolin and online threats

On Saturday police in Masovia announced the detention of a 14-year-old in Garwolin, made on Friday, who had posted disturbing content online. A parent from the Trojanów municipality had reported a recording showing dangerous objects. Officers found what police described as an 'arsenal' at the teenager's home, mostly bladed weapons including knives and hatchets, plus an air rifle, and they seized his phone. The boy will answer for causing a false alarm, and a family court ruled that he will be placed in a youth educational centre. Police urged parents and guardians to monitor children's social media activity and react to worrying signs.

Kijowska said most of the people detained so far had posted content in closed social groups or messengers calling for crimes, making threats, or claiming they had or planned to buy a knife, machete or firearm. Only a much smaller group was found carrying dangerous tools. Each case will be treated individually, and evidence is still being gathered. The police cyber unit checked whether a social media challenge was encouraging such attacks, but reported on Friday that there were no signs of one so far.

Regional reaction and what comes next

Slovak police said on Friday that they would increase the presence of officers near schools, citing the Staszków tragedy and the events in Poland, according to the state agency TASR. The aim is to check readiness to respond to threats to health and life and to see how procedures are applied in practice. In Poland, patrols return to schools on Monday, and police say the evidence gathering for each detained person continues. What lies behind the incidents remains unclear, as neither the Staszków, Ostrołęka, Leszczydół-Nowiny nor Warsaw attackers have been publicly tied to a common cause.