Polish police said on Monday that nearly 80,000 educational facilities had been checked and 135 people detained nationwide as part of an operation to improve safety following several recent acts of violence at schools in the east-central Mazowieckie region.
A police car in front of a school in Warsaw.PAP/Marcin Kmieciński
By 6 a.m. on Monday, police had recorded 311 incidents in which officers were taking action over a reasonable suspicion that an offence had been committed.
Police were monitoring the internet around the clock and responding to reports, reporters were told.
Deputy Interior Minister Wiesław Szczepański said around 24,000 police officers were out checking schools on Monday, as they had on Friday.
Officers would also enter schools and, if necessary, inspect pupils’ schoolbags when their behaviour raised concerns, he added.
Szczepański said the detentions were linked to activities including promoting various types of content online, possessing sharp objects, „planning possible actions” and inciting others to carry them out.
Recent incidents of violence at schools in the Mazowieckie region included a knife attack on nine people at a vocational school in the city of Ostrołęka on Wednesday, a fatal attack at a primary school in the village of Leszczydół-Nowiny on Thursday and an attack on three people at a post-secondary school in Warsaw on Saturday.
Police also thwarted a suspected attack at a school in Sierpc, northwest of Warsaw.
Deputy Education Minister Paulina Piechna-Więckiewicz said on Sunday that her ministry would issue guidance for school principals and teachers on how to respond to an attack involving a dangerous object.
(sp/gs)
Source: PAP
Radio Poland