Poland Stabbings

Poland has seen an increase in violence throughout the past week. Over 20,000 police officers were deployed to schools on October 12, which is equivalent to one fifth of the national force.

There have been three separate stabbings in schools throughout Poland from October 7 to October 10. Authorities blame these attacks on an uptick in an online glorification of violence.

The first stabbing on October 7 involved a 19-year old student who injured 10 people, including himself, before fleeing. The event took place at a vocational school in central Poland and the student was arrested in a nearby location.

The next day, a 15 year old student entered a primary school, killing a 37 year old female janitor and injuring two teachers. The student was seen wearing a helmet with a camera mounted to it, intending to film the attack. A primary school is a school for first to eighth graders, and this student had recently graduated.

On Friday the 9th, an online challenge called “Bloody Friday” arose, where people online claimed that mass stabbings would occur. This provoked fear from many parents and students for their safety. A total of 59 Polish schools canceled classes for the day, but no stabbings took place. 

"I mean, I didn't know if it was even real - I still don't know ​if it's true, actually - because it sounds so unreal, so terrifying, just like something out of a movie: some kind of challenge ​to kill as many people as possible," an 18 year old girl said whose brother goes to one of the schools where a stabbing occurred.

Then on Saturday the 10th, a 21 year-old woman injured three people while violently attacking a 17 year old. The woman was arrested shortly after. By Sunday, there were a total of 117 people detained related to the stabbings. As more of these online threats continue, Polish police departments have seen an increase in online searches regarding Nazi content and mass killers. 

“These are very often spontaneous actions inspired by online activity,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said. “In the past years and months, we have noted - globally and in Poland - a rise in the fascination with violence,”

A Polish Police Department arrested a 60 year-old man on October 11, who police suspected of planning a “deadly serious” assassination on Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

The man arrested had an email containing his plans to assassinate the Prime Minister, which was forwarded to the police. 

“I think that this is a very terrible thing and I'm so sorry for the people in Poland where this is happening. I’d probably take some pepper spray with me to school and get some self defence stuff. Police officers should respond by staying at the school at all times and catching the people who are stabbing people. I think this is happening because of violence throughout the world and people getting these ideas from their friends; they're just weird and sick in the head,” NHS sophomore Elise Ansman said.

This increase in violence has made some Polish retailers stop the sale of certain costumes for Halloween, specifically gory costumes and fake knives, due to the recent stabbings. 

Police have arrested nearly 135 students for carrying various axes and knives to school. Online copycats have started, which include multiple threats to people of all ages. One male student even created a Roblox game mimicking his school and simulated killing his classmates. The male responsible for this was found in the possession of a gun, ammunition, and various knives.

“I think if they didn't have access then they wouldn't have guns so I think that is the main problem, people selling them and people seeing things on Tik Tok. I think people see fake things and try to do it and face the consequences in real life. I probably wouldn't go to school until I knew it was safe. I think that the person who made the game was trying to be funny but didn't realize that he was doing it. It gives him a bad reputation and it's not a good game to be spreading out there. I think people should search stores and make sure they're not selling fake products and giving bad intent to the younger population. Having these fake things is not okay,” NHS sophomore Gavin Merrifield said.

While the addition of police has calmed some people, many are still anxious for their safety in public spaces. Poland has told companies such as Google and Meta to prevent the spread of violent information online in hopes to limit the exposure to young adults.