Poland Heightens School Security After Deadly Knife Attacks, Detains Ten

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

WARSAW/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Polish police deployed officers to some 10,000 schools and other educational institutions Friday and detained ten people over threats of further violence after two knife attacks left a school employee dead and several others injured, authorities said.

The nationwide security operation followed warnings circulating on social media about a supposed “Bloody Friday” campaign encouraging attacks on schools, prompting authorities to increase police patrols and investigate online threats.

Several schools suspended classes as a precaution, particularly in the Mazovia region surrounding Warsaw, while police appealed to parents and teachers to report suspicious behavior.

The heightened security followed Thursday’s killing of a 37-year-old school caretaker at a primary school in Leszczydół-Nowiny, northeast of Warsaw. A 15-year-old former pupil allegedly attacked three employees with a knife, killing the woman and injuring the school’s principal and a teacher.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the slain woman was a mother of two, while praising school employees who confronted the attacker despite the danger to their own lives.

SECOND SCHOOL ATTACK

The killing came a day after a 19-year-old vocational school student allegedly attacked people with a knife and other sharp weapons in Ostrołęka, northeastern Poland, injuring nine people before harming himself.

The wounded included five students, two teachers and two bystanders. One teacher suffered serious injuries, although prosecutors said none of the victims’ lives remained in danger.

Prosecutors said the suspect had also brought a backpack containing explosives into a classroom occupied by 11 people. The device did not detonate during the attack, but investigators later confirmed that it contained a powerful explosive charge.

Both suspected attackers were detained. The 15-year-old was restrained by the school principal before police took him into custody, while the 19-year-old was arrested shortly after fleeing Wednesday’s attack.

Prosecutors have charged the older suspect with multiple counts of attempted murder, but the younger teenager’s case is being handled by juvenile authorities.

FEARS OF FURTHER VIOLENCE

Tusk convened emergency talks with government ministers and senior security officials amid concerns that the attacks could inspire further violence.

The prime minister said Thursday’s suspected attacker had worn a helmet-mounted camera, apparently intending to record the assault. Authorities had not established whether the attack was filmed.

Police said the ten people detained Friday included a 13-year-old from Warsaw who allegedly posted a photograph of a knife in a classroom group chat and threatened fellow pupils.

Officers also detained a 14-year-old carrying a knife and firecrackers at a Warsaw school, while two 15-year-olds near the capital were accused of posting a video containing death threats.

In a separate case, a 17-year-old in Sierpc was detained Thursday after fellow students alerted a teacher to statements suggesting he was planning violence. Police found two knives in his possession.

SCHOOLS CLOSE

The incidents heightened concerns that online threats could inspire further attacks, although investigators had not established links between the two original school assaults.

The growing concerns prompted authorities to suspend in-person classes in several districts, including Wyszków, Pułtusk and Ciechanów, while Warsaw authorities maintained normal teaching schedules with additional police patrols.

Poland’s Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime was investigating material circulating on the TikTok platform, including an account allegedly linked to Thursday’s attacker.

However, Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said investigators had found no evidence of an organized nationwide campaign encouraging attacks.

He warned that isolated individuals could still attempt to imitate the violence, even without evidence of a coordinated plot.

SCHOOL VIOLENCE IN POLAND

Authorities urged parents and teachers to remain vigilant and report credible threats while avoiding the spread of unverified claims online.

Yet those warnings came too late for families affected by the attacks, particularly in Leszczydół-Nowiny, where the death of a school employee and mother of two has left a community mourning.

Such violent attacks on schools remain relatively rare in Poland, a predominantly Roman Catholic nation, although previous incidents have also claimed lives.

In May 2019, a 16-year-old pupil was stabbed to death by a fellow student at a Warsaw school, while another attack that month involving a firearm and an explosive device injured two people at a primary school in Brześć Kujawski. In November 2023, three students were wounded in a knife attack at a school in Kadzidło, near Ostrołęka.