Poland stabbings driven by online glorification of violence, Tusk says

Three violent attacks at Polish schools this week were driven by the "glorification of violence" online, Prime Minister Donald Tusk remarked.

Key points

• Polish security services convened a special session on Sunday after receiving information concerning a potential attack on Tusk and Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, a spokesperson noted.
• A day afterwards, the 37-year-old caretaker was killed after a 15-year-old entered a primary school in Leszczydół-Nowiny, north of Warsaw.
• A woman was arrested on Saturday after injuring three individuals while attacking a 17-year-old girl at an educational institution in the capital, Warsaw.
• On Wednesday, a 19-year-old student attacked and injured nine individuals at a vocational school in the central Polish province of Mazovian.
• "These are very often spontaneous actions inspired by online activity, " Tusk remarked on Sunday, during a crisis gathering with security services.

Notably, the attacks have left one woman dead and others injured, including children.

After searching tens of thousands of schools, police have arrested 117 individuals nationwide for possession knives or other weapons, or for threatening to attack schools or fellow students.

For context, a woman was arrested on Saturday after injuring three individuals while attacking a 17-year-old girl at an educational institution in the capital, Warsaw.

After two stabbing attacks earlier in the week, one of which led to the killing of a female caretaker, it came a day after thousands of police visited schools throughout Poland.

"We are not dealing with any group organized on a big scale, " Tusk remarked on Sunday.

"In the past years and months, we have noted – globally and in Poland – a rise in the fascination with violence, " he continued.

Meanwhile, the prime minister remarked the attacks were acts "nihilistic violence" associated with the extreme right.

"Some of the people detained are active in the ultraright environment, " he remarked, adding that police had noticed a rise in online searches of Nazi content as well as of "mass killers who have become idols online".

For context, a day afterwards, the 37-year-old caretaker was killed after a 15-year-old entered a primary school in Leszczydół-Nowiny, north of Warsaw.

After allegedly stating "on school grounds that he planned to do something. Dangerous – that he intended to harm someone", interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński additionally stated a 17-year-old was detained in the town of Sierpc, north-west of Warsaw.

Thousands of Polish ‌police officers visited schools nationwide to try to reassure pupils after the stabbings sparked rumours of a "Bloody Friday" of more attacks stemming from a supposed online challenge.

Meanwhile, Polish security services convened a special session on Sunday after receiving information concerning a potential attack on Tusk and Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, a spokesperson noted.

Notably, a special services spokesman remarked office-holders were treating the threat as "deadly serious".

Taken together, the developments around poland stabbings driven by online glorification of violence, Tusk says point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.