Police detain dozens and check 50,000 schools after two attacks shake Poland

Wojtek Radwanski/AFP/Getty Images

Police on Saturday said they detained 76 people across Poland and checked nearly 50,000 schools nationwide as part of efforts to prevent further violence following two school attacks earlier in the week.

On Friday, schools across Poland stepped up security, with some suspending classes, many parents keeping children at home and police patrols deployed to educational institutions after two attacks at schools earlier in the week left one person dead and several others wounded, including children.

On Wednesday, a 19-year-old student at a vocational school in the Mazovian province in central Poland attacked fellow students, teachers and passersby with a sharp object, injuring nine people before fleeing and being arrested nearby. The following day, a 15-year-old killed a school custodian and wounded two others in a knife attack at his former school in the same province.

The assaults, both carried out by Polish nationals, shocked a country where school violence by minors is a new phenomenon.

By Thursday night, rumours that the attacks were coordinated and that there would be more on the culmination day dubbed “bloody Friday” were being shared in parents’ online groups and by mainstream media.

Fifty-nine schools preemptively suspended classes on Friday across Poland, the majority in the Mazovian district, where the capital Warsaw is located. School directors sent messages announcing stepped-up security measures including extra school staff placed 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.

Kacper Pempel/Reuters

Those detained on Friday include a 14-year-old boy from a central district of Warsaw who was found in possession of a knife with a concealed blade and 11 firecrackers, and a 16-year old from another Warsaw district who came to school with a butterfly knife in his backpack. Others had posted online photos of knives, threatened their peers or threatened school attacks.

So far, the government said, it had found no evidence that an internet challenge promoting school attacks was ongoing. There is also no official confirmation that the two attacks were linked; both perpetrators are in custody.

Parents across Poland are now having to catch up fast on how to speak to their kids about school violence. Authorities say extra security measures at schools will continue and crisis training will be organized. The liberal government also promised to renew efforts to pass a bill blocking harmful online content.

“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,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.

After wounding three adults in Thursday’s attack, the 15-year-old, who wore a camera to record his actions, was eventually overpowered by school director Krzysztof Ochmański. Ochmański later told reporters there was a moment when the boy seemed to realise the enormity of his actions and said he did not want to do this any more.

“Once I had established contact, he asked me for help,” Ochmański recounted. “It got to the point where he wanted a hug.”

Wojtek Radwanski/法新社/盖蒂图片社

警方周六表示，作为防止本周早些时候发生的两起校园袭击事件后再次发生暴力事件的举措之一，他们在波兰各地拘留了 76 人，并对全国近 5 万所学校进行了检查。

周五，波兰各地学校加强了安保措施，一些学校停课，许多家长让孩子待在家中，警方在教育机构部署了巡逻队。此前，本周早些时候发生的两起学校袭击事件造成一人死亡，多人受伤，其中包括儿童。

周三，波兰中部马佐夫舍省一所职业学校的一名19岁学生持利器袭击同学、教师和路人，造成9人受伤，随后逃离现场，并在附近被捕。第二天，同一省份一名15岁少年在其曾就读的学校持刀行凶，造成一名学校管理员死亡，另有两人受伤。

这两起袭击事件均由波兰公民实施，震惊了波兰——在这个国家，未成年人校园暴力还是一种新现象。

到周四晚上，有关袭击是协同策划的，并且在被称为“血腥星期五”的最终日还会发生更多袭击的谣言，已经在家长在线群组和主流媒体中传播开来。

周五，波兰全国共有59所学校提前停课，其中大部分位于首都华沙所在的马佐夫舍省。各校校长发布消息，宣布加强安保措施，包括在校门口增派工作人员，以及学生自愿接受书包检查。

“在这个问题上绝不妥协。青少年的安全是最重要的，”内政部长马尔钦·基尔温斯基说。

卡斯珀·彭佩尔/路透社

周五被拘留的人员包括一名来自华沙市中心区的14岁男孩，他被发现持有一把带隐藏刀片的刀具和11个鞭炮；以及一名来自华沙另一区的16岁男孩，他书包里装着一把蝴蝶刀来上学。还有一些人曾在网上发布刀具照片，威胁同龄人或扬言要袭击学校。

政府表示，目前尚未发现任何证据表明，旨在煽动校园袭击的网络挑战仍在进行。也没有官方消息证实这两起袭击事件有关联；两名袭击者均已被拘留。

波兰各地的家长现在不得不抓紧时间学习如何与孩子谈论校园暴力。当局表示，学校将继续采取额外的安保措施，并将组织危机应对培训。自由派政府还承诺将再次努力推动一项法案的通过，以屏蔽有害的网络内容。

“如果那名未成年袭击者今天在网上直播犯罪过程，我们将无法屏蔽该内容，因为我们还没有获得这种法律工具，”总理唐纳德·图斯克说。

在周四的袭击中，这名15岁的少年致三名成年人受伤。他当时佩戴着摄像头记录自己的行为，最终被学校校长克日什托夫·奥赫曼斯基制服。奥赫曼斯基后来告诉记者，男孩似乎一度意识到自己行为的严重性，并表示不想再这样做了。

“我跟他建立起联系后，他就向我寻求帮助，”奥赫曼斯基回忆道。“后来，他甚至想要一个拥抱。”