Tusk: Online Glorification of Violence Behind Attacks on Polish Schools

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Sunday that three violent attacks at schools in Poland this week were driven by the glorification of violence online. One woman was killed and several people, including children, were injured. Tusk spoke after a crisis meeting with the country's security services.

What happened

On Wednesday, a 19-year-old student injured nine people at a vocational school in the Mazovia province in central Poland. A day later, a 15-year-old entered a primary school in Leszczydół-Nowiny, north of Warsaw, and a 37-year-old female caretaker was killed. On Saturday, a woman in Warsaw injured three people while attacking a 17-year-old girl at an educational institution, and she was arrested.

After the first attacks, rumours spread of a "Bloody Friday" of further violence, linked to a supposed online challenge. On Friday, thousands of police officers visited schools across the country to reassure pupils. After searching tens of thousands of schools, police have detained 117 people for possessing knives or other weapons, or for threatening to attack schools or fellow students.

The prime minister's assessment

Tusk said there was no large-scale organised group behind the attacks. He noted that in recent years and months, both globally and in Poland, there has been a rise in fascination with violence. He described the attacks as nihilistic violence associated with the extreme right. Some of those detained are active in ultra-right circles, he said, and police have seen more online searches for Nazi content and for "mass killers who have become idols online".

Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said a 17-year-old was detained in the town of Sierpc, north-west of Warsaw, after allegedly saying on school grounds that he intended to harm someone.

Threat to government leaders

On Sunday, security services also held a special meeting after receiving information about a potential attack on Tusk and Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz. A spokesman for the special services said the threat was being treated as "deadly serious".