WARSAW – A major police operation was under way in Poland on Oct 12 to ensure security in schools after three recent stabbing attacks, as Prime Minister Donald Tusk vowed to confront what he described as a growing trend of youth violence.
The authorities have dismissed rumours that the attacks were linked to an online challenge or organised group, but Tusk told a crisis meeting on Oct 11 that the glorification of violence in some corners of the internet was having a damaging 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, adding that content promoting Nazi ideology and a “cult of strength”, as well as violent computer games, were major factors.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said late on Oct 11 that more than 20,000 police officers would be deployed to schools on Oct 12.
“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 state news channel TVP Info.
Police said on Oct 12 that they had inspected 80,000 educational institutions and detained 135 people since Oct 9.
In one incident, police said a boy created a model of his school in the Roblox game and simulated attacks on students. He was found to possess a firearm, ammunition and knives.
The latest attack occurred on Oct 10, when three people were injured at a further education college in Warsaw, Poland's third stabbing attack at an educational institution in four days.
On Oct 8, 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, north-east of Warsaw. On Oct 7, a 19-year-old wounded 10 people including himself at a school in Ostroleka, north of the capital. REUTERS