Prime Minister Donald Tusk declared on Sunday that the wave of attacks targeting Polish schools over the past week were spontaneous acts driven by the online glorification of violence. Speaking during a crisis meeting with government and security officials, Tusk emphasized that these incidents do not appear to be the result of a large-scale, organized group. Instead, he characterized the events as individual actions inspired by broader online activity.
Over the past four days, three separate attacks occurred at schools within the Mazovian province of central Poland, resulting in one death and multiple injuries, including to children. By Sunday morning, authorities had detained 117 individuals across the country for possessing knives or dangerous weapons, or for making threats against schools and students. In response to the heightened security climate, officials conducted checks at approximately 64,000 schools.
Tusk described the phenomenon as a rise in the fascination with violence, both globally and within Poland. He linked the acts to what authorities call nihilistic violence—a worldview driven by misanthropy rather than specific political objectives. While noting that some detainees have been active in ultraright circles, Tusk also highlighted that authorities have observed intensified online searches for Nazi content and for mass killers who have achieved idol status on the internet. He suggested this represents a civilizational phenomenon where young people are increasingly exposed to violence through video games and crime stories.
Kacper Rekawek, a senior researcher at the International Center for Counterterrorism in The Hague, described the situation as a copycat scenario, noting a lineage of attackers dating back at least to 2019, referencing the white supremacist who killed 51 people in Christchurch, New Zealand. Tusk confirmed that police checks at schools will continue into the coming week to prevent further copycat attempts by children who might be influenced by the recent news.
The recent spike in violence includes a Wednesday incident where a 19-year-old student in the Mazovian province attacked teachers, students, and passersby with a sharp object, wounding nine. On Thursday, a 15-year-old killed a school custodian and wounded two others at his former school in the same province. By Saturday, a 21-year-old woman had wounded three people at a post-secondary institution in Warsaw.
Amid rumors of coordinated threats for a so-called “bloody Friday,” 59 schools preemptively suspended classes, with the majority located in the Mazovian province. Police detentions on Friday included a 14-year-old in Warsaw found with a knife and 11 firecrackers, as well as a 16-year-old who arrived at school carrying a butterfly knife in his backpack.
