Polish police detain 59 teens over school attack threats

Polish police detained 59 young people suspected of making threats of violence against schools after two recent knife attacks in the east-central Mazowieckie province triggered a nationwide security operation, officers said on Friday.

’Bloody Friday’: Thousands of Polish police officers visited schools nationwide to reassure students and teachers after two stabbing attacks by teenagers in as many days left one person dead and several injured.PAP/Przemysław Piątkowski

Police said they had checked nearly 35,000 schools by early evening and were continuing patrols around schools and monitoring threats posted online.

’Bloody Friday’

About 24,000 police officers, supported by municipal guards, were deployed to monitor schools and their surroundings and reassure students and teachers amid rumours of a „Bloody Friday” of more attacks stemming from a purported online challenge, according to media reports.

The Polish police’s Central Cybercrime Bureau (CBZC), working with the Internal Security Agency (ABW), was monitoring the situation online, officials said.

Polish police on Friday stepped up patrols and tightened security around schools nationwide after r ecent knife attacks. Photo: PAP/Marcin Obara

The operation followed two attacks in recent days at schools in the Mazowieckie region, which includes Warsaw.

On Thursday, a 15-year-old former student attacked three people with a knife at a primary school in the village of Leszczydół-Nowiny, near the town of Wyszków, about 50 km northeast of Warsaw, killing a 37-year-old school employee and injuring two others.

A day earlier, a 19-year-old attacked schoolmates and teachers at a vocational school in Ostrołęka, 120 km northeast of the capital, injuring five students, two teachers and two other people.

Prosecutors said the suspect also attempted to detonate a homemade explosive device at the school.

Also on Wednesday, police in the town of Sierpc, 125 km northwest of Warsaw, foiled a planned school attack and detained a 17-year-old who had told classmates he planned to „do something bad at school,” according to authorities.

Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said there was no confirmed evidence that the school attacks ​were part of a coordinated operation or linked to an online challenge.

Copycat behaviour

Polish police chief Marek Boroń told private broadcaster TVN24 that officers recorded 179 incidents on Friday „involving reasonable suspicion that an offence had been committed.”

He said the recent incidents appeared to have inspired copycat behaviour.

„We will be in schools as long as there is a need,” Boroń said.

He said officers would monitor people around schools for suspicious behaviour and check that they were not carrying dangerous objects.

„We are not searching students. We simply want to know what a young person is bringing onto the premises of a particular school because they have no right to bring a dangerous tool onto school grounds,” Boroń said.

Russian connection? 'Too early to determine’

Boroń said it was „too early to determine” whether any of the incidents had a Russian connection, given the large number of people detained.

„We will verify all the material, the internet and also the devices they use to determine whether they were inspired” by others, Boroń said.

Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz suggested Russia could use such events to sow panic.

Police said they had received more than 300 reports from adults and young people about possible threats.

Boroń said those involved ranged in age from 10 to 17, and that young people frequently described the posts as jokes. He said copycat behaviour, rather than online challenges, appeared to be the main inspiration.

The consequences for minors will be determined by family courts, with each case assessed individually, he said.

String of arrests

Police reported numerous incidents across the country and made a string of arrests on Friday.

In the Warsaw area, two 15-year-olds were detained after posting a video threatening to kill people, state news agency PAP reported.

In another case, a 13-year-old was detained after posting a photograph of a knife in a class ⁠group chat and threatening another student, according to reports.

Police in the Warsaw suburb of Otwock detained a 14-year-old who they say planned to bring a knife to school after another student reported the threat.

In the city of Płock, 110 km northwest of the capital, a 13-year-old girl was detained after posting a video threatening students at several schools.

In the northeastern town of Szczytno, police detained a 16-year-old shortly after 6 a.m. on Friday after he allegedly posted a video threatening an attack at a local school.

Police also detained four students in the northern Warmińsko-Mazurskie province, including an 11-year-old who had brought a replica knife to school.

In the western city of Poznań and surrounding areas, five teenagers aged 14 to 16 were detained over online threats. Police said the teenagers appeared in videos wearing masks and holding knives and machetes.

In southeastern Poland, police investigated online threats involving five schools. The reports were found to be jokes, although concerns among parents and students led to lower attendance, police said.

In the northeastern Podlaskie province, police investigated an incident in which a student brought a knife to school and posed for photographs with classmates while wearing balaclavas.

Other incidents involved children threatening classmates with knives, students bringing knives onto school grounds or making threats through text messages and private online groups.

Police said some of those involved voluntarily came to police stations with their parents and admitted posting threatening videos as hoaxes.

„The tragic events in Poland have triggered strong emotions and also affected what is happening online. Our arrests are a result of this,” said Tomasz Olczyk, head of police in the western Wielkopolskie province.

Young people who post such threats „want to create fear, and they undoubtedly succeed,” Olczyk said. „They will face the consequences.”

Boroń also highlighted the wider risks facing children online, including pornography, violence and content produced by so-called trash streamers, or creators who broadcast deliberately provocative or harmful material.

He said police had recorded 2,783 incidents since the beginning of the year involving people, both young and adult, who had called for help while attempting suicide. About half were children, he said, adding that many required hospitalisation.

Police said officers would remain at schools until the situation was considered safe. The cases involving minors will ultimately be handled by family courts, they added.

Interior ​Minister Marcin Kierwinski told a news conference that „there will be no ⁠compromise here because the safety of youngsters is the most important ​thing.”

Education Minister Barbara Nowacka said 59 schools nationwide cancelled classes on Friday, mainly in the Mazowieckie region ​where the stabbing attacks took place. Other schools had tightened entry procedures, she told reporters.

The scale of the police ​deployment and the school closures left many people shocked in a country where such incidents have been very rare, the Reuters news agency reported.

The authorities also warned people of the risks of online disinformation. They urged the public not to spread unverified information and reminded people that making threats to commit a crime can have serious legal consequences.

(gs) 

Source: IAR/PAP, TVP Info, TVN24, Reuters

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