Poland Deploys Over 20,000 Police to Schools After Three Stabbing Attacks in Four Days

Warsaw: Poland launched a major police operation on Monday to secure schools across the country following three recent stabbing attacks. Prime Minister Donald Tusk pledged to confront what he called a growing trend of violence among young people.

Authorities have dismissed rumours that the attacks were linked to an online challenge or an organised group. However, speaking at a crisis meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Tusk said the glorification of violence in parts of the internet was having a harmful effect on young people.

“We have observed a rise in the fascination with violence, both in Poland and worldwide… we are witnessing a grim trend of violence,” he said. He identified content promoting Nazi ideology and a “cult of strength”, along with violent computer games, as major contributing factors.

Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski announced late on Sunday that more than 20,000 police officers would be deployed to schools on Monday. “A clear message is required: there will be no tolerance for any attacks on Polish children, nor for the descent of public life into anarchy,” he told the state news channel TVP Info.

Thousands of Schools Inspected, Over 100 Detained

Police said on Monday that since Friday they had inspected 80,000 educational institutions and detained 135 people. In one case, police reported that a boy had built a model of his school in the online game Roblox and simulated attacks on students. He was found to be in possession of a firearm, ammunition and knives.

Series of Attacks

The most recent attack took place on Saturday at a further education college in Warsaw, where three people were injured. It was the third stabbing at an educational institution in Poland within four days.

On Thursday, a 15-year-old former pupil wearing a helmet-mounted camera killed a caretaker and injured two teachers at a primary school in Leszczydol-Nowiny, northeast of Warsaw. A day earlier, on Wednesday, a 19-year-old wounded 10 people, including himself, at a school in Ostroleka, north of the capital.