A 21-year-old woman has been arrested in Warsaw after injuring three people at an educational institution, the third attack on a school or college in Poland in a week. Police said she used a "dangerous object", which sources have described as a knife, and that the victims, aged 17, 17 and 24, were not in life-threatening danger. One was taken to hospital with cuts. Two of the victims had gone to the institution to submit enrolment documents.
Police told local media that the suspect was a student at the institution and that early findings suggested she did not know the victims. A member of staff reportedly overpowered her. A Warsaw police spokesperson said they could not confirm whether the incident was linked to the two earlier attacks.
Those attacks took place on 7 and 8 October. On Wednesday, a 19-year-old attacked people at a vocational school in Ostrołęka, a town about 120 kilometres north of Warsaw, injuring nine people according to reports, including students, teachers and bystanders. The next day, a 15-year-old entered his former primary school in Leszczydół-Nowiny, just north of the capital, and killed a 37-year-old caretaker. He was wearing a helmet with a camera, though it is not known whether he was filming. Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the situation exceptional and said it was the first time an attacker had planned to film an assault this way. He also said he feared copycat behaviour.
The government says it has found no evidence that the attacks were coordinated, and police have said they appear to be individual acts. Local media, citing a police spokesperson, reported that authorities have information suggesting the incidents could be related to an internet challenge. Police chief Marek Boroń said online content contributes to the radicalisation of young people, citing discrimination, violence and cyberbullying.
On Friday, police visited schools across the country, with reports ranging from about 15,000 to nearly 50,000 institutions, and have since detained more than 70 people. Those held included pupils found with knives, a butterfly knife, machetes or explosives, and others who made threats, including online promises of a "bloody Friday". Most of those detained on Friday reportedly said they had been joking. Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said such situations create a dangerous imitation effect. Rumours spread in parent chat groups of coordinated attacks, around 50 schools cancelled classes, and some parents kept children at home.
The cases have caused alarm in a country where such violence in schools is rare. Authorities are urging calm and asking pupils themselves to report anything suspicious, noting that tips from teachers and teenagers helped them intervene.