Poland's school attacks prompt closures in Mazovia and detentions across the country
Two stabbings in two days left a school employee dead and nine people wounded. Police say they checked more than 10,000 schools and detained 10 people nationwide.
Two attacks in two days
On Wednesday, 7 October, a 19-year-old identified as Jakub Z. wounded nine people at Zespół Szkół Zawodowych nr 4 in Ostrołęka, Mazovia, and was injured himself. RMF24 reports that he also carried a homemade bag containing explosive material. The next day, Thursday, a 15-year-old attacked staff and pupils at a primary school in Leszczydół-Nowiny near Wyszków. Rzeczpospolita describes him as a former pupil. He killed a 37-year-old school employee and wounded two others. The school's director, Krzysztof Ochmański, said he tried to restrain the boy and realised there was a knife only when he saw him stab a teacher.
We started to struggle, I was holding him. I saw that he was not very strong.
- 19-year-old Jakub Z. wounds nine people at a vocational school in Ostrołęka
- 15-year-old attacks staff and pupils at a primary school in Leszczydół-Nowiny, killing a 37-year-old employee
- Rumours of a 'bloody Friday' spread; police report more than 10,000 schools checked and 10 people detained nationwide
Rumours of a 'bloody Friday'
Posts about a supposed 'bloody Friday' on 9 October spread through social media and parent groups, and parents reported panic. Police said on Friday they had thwarted at least a dozen potential attacks. Their morning update reported more than 10,000 schools checked and 10 people detained nationwide. Onet reports that the 10,000 figure covers only police actions on Wednesday and Thursday, with further cases reported by local police units. Rzeczpospolita reports that current findings do not confirm an organised online challenge or a coordinated plan to attack schools.
Some detentions involved no real weapon. In Kraków, a 10-year-old in a bloodied Halloween costume arrived at Primary School No. 109 carrying a plastic knife, and teachers detained him. Rafał Wawrzuta of the Kraków city police described the object to Wirtualna Polska:
He had an object that was supposed to resemble a cleaver, something like that. In reality it was a plastic toy.
In Ełk, police detained a 17-year-old over a threat to attack pupils posted in a class group chat.
School closures across Mazovia
Local governments and headteachers decided on closures individually. Rzeczpospolita reports 49 schools closed, a figure the education superintendent's office has not officially confirmed. In Wyszków, primary schools and kindergartens cancelled lessons but provided care for children whose parents could not keep them at home. Legionowo closed primary schools No. 3 and 7, and Piaseczno asked parents to keep children at home where possible. Warsaw city hall did not recommend cancelling lessons but added access control and more police and city guard patrols. In Ostróda county, a crisis team convened by starosta Andrzej Wiczkowski ordered police patrols around schools from Friday 9 October, with some officers in plain clothes, and officers inside buildings at headteachers' request.
Political reaction
Deputy Education Minister Katarzyna Lubnauer told Onet that the ministry had arranged meetings between school superintendents and headteachers. She said only security services issue security directives, and that the decision to close a school rests with the headteacher together with the school's governing body.
Information has already started to appear online that the services are denying.
Przemysław Czarnek, the PiS candidate for prime minister and a former education minister, told RMF FM that schools should be closed and parents should talk with their children. He proposed a 'Bezpieczna szkoła' package with immediate staff training, alarm buttons, full monitoring and a ban on outsiders entering schools. He praised the ministry for banning smartphones in primary schools.
If I were in education today, or if I were a school principal, I would close the school today, and I would ask parents to sit for a while with their children and talk to them, because the situation needs to be calmed down and we need to think about what to do from Monday.
Other cases
In Płock, police detained a 13-year-old girl who posted a video in a closed online group threatening pupils at several schools while holding scissors. In Legnica, a 16-year-old girl was detained for sending threats through a messaging app, and she told police it was a 'stupid joke'. In Łódź, an unidentified man approached two girls, aged 13 and 15, near a shop on Pomorska Street, talked with them, then attacked them with an unidentified tool, leaving superficial cheek wounds. He has not been caught. The same Friday, two 13-year-olds were found with knives about 10 cm long in their backpacks at another Łódź school. Police have not said whether the Łódź incidents are linked.
