- Poland reports third school attack in week, injuring three.
- Previous attacks prompted stepped-up security; 76 detained nationwide.
- No coordination found; Tusk seeks harmful online content legislation.
Poland reported a third school attack in less than a week on Saturday, after a 21-year-old woman allegedly injured three people inside an educational institution in the capital, Warsaw, police said.
The woman used a “dangerous object” to attack a 17-year-old girl and also injured two others, aged 17 and 24, Warsaw police spokesman Jakub Filipiak told The Associated Press. None of the injuries was life-threatening.
The latest incident came as authorities intensified security measures at educational institutions following two attacks earlier in the week that left one person dead and several others injured, including children, The Hill reported citing AP news agency.
Poland Detains 76, Checks Nearly 50,000 Schools
Police said they had detained 76 people across Poland and checked nearly 50,000 schools as part of efforts to prevent further violence.
Security was stepped up at schools on Friday, with some institutions suspending classes, parents keeping children at home and police patrols deployed to educational facilities. A total of 59 schools pre-emptively suspended classes, most of them in the Mazovian region, which includes Warsaw.
School directors also announced additional security measures, including extra staff at entrances and voluntary backpack checks.
“There will be no compromise here. The safety of the youth is the most important thing,” Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said.
Those detained included a 14-year-old boy in Warsaw found carrying a knife with a concealed blade and 11 firecrackers, as well as a 16-year-old who had brought a butterfly knife to school. Others were detained over online posts showing knives or threats against peers and schools.
Two Earlier Attacks Left One Dead, Several Injured
The latest attack followed two violent incidents at schools in the Mazovian region.
On Wednesday, a 19-year-old student at a vocational school attacked fellow students, teachers and passersby with a sharp object, injuring nine people before fleeing. He was arrested nearby.
The following day, a 15-year-old allegedly killed a school custodian and wounded two others in a knife attack at his former school in the same region. The teenager, who was wearing a camera to record his actions, was eventually overpowered by school director Krzysztof Ochmański.
Ochmański later told reporters that the boy appeared to realise the gravity of his actions and said he no longer wanted to continue.
“Once I had established contact, he asked me for help,” Ochmański recounted. “It got to the point where he wanted a hug.”
Both earlier attacks were carried out by Polish nationals, and the suspects are in custody. The incidents have shocked a country where such school violence involving young people has emerged as a growing concern.
Authorities Find No Evidence Of Coordinated Attacks
The incidents fuelled rumours on social media and in parents’ online groups that the attacks were coordinated and that further violence could occur on Friday, which some posts dubbed “bloody Friday”.
However, the government said it had found no evidence so far of an ongoing online challenge encouraging school attacks. Authorities have also not officially confirmed any link between the two earlier incidents.
Tusk Calls For Stronger Action Against Harmful Online Content
The attacks have renewed debate over school safety and the risks posed by harmful online content. Parents across Poland are also being encouraged to discuss school violence with their children.
Authorities said enhanced security measures would continue and crisis-response training would be organised.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk also pledged renewed efforts to pass legislation that would block harmful online content, arguing that existing laws did not give authorities sufficient powers to prevent the spread of recordings of violent crimes.
“If that juvenile attacker had streamed the crime online today, we would have been unable to block that content because we have not been given that legal tool,” Tusk said.
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