Poland shocked by a series of school attacks: dozens of detainees

The attacker used a “dangerous object” to attack a 17-year-old girl and ended up injuring two more people, aged 17 and 24, respectively, Warsaw police spokesman Jakub Filipiak told The Associated Press. None of the injuries were life-threatening, CNN notes.

The attacker did not know any of the victims, police said.

The attack comes after police on Saturday said they detained 76 people across Poland and inspected nearly 50,000 schools across the country as part of efforts to prevent further violence following two attacks on schools earlier this week.

Security measures were tightened at schools across Poland on Friday, with classes suspended in some, many parents leaving children at home and police patrols deployed to schools following two attacks on schools earlier in the week that left one person dead and several others injured, including children.

On Wednesday, a 19-year-old pupil at a vocational school in Mazowiec Voivodeship in central Poland attacked fellow students, teachers and passers-by with a sharp object, injuring nine people, then fled and was arrested nearby. The next day, a 15-year-old killed a school watchman and wounded two more in a knife attack at his former school in the same province.

Both attacks, carried out by Polish citizens, shocked a country where school violence by minors is a new phenomenon.

By Thursday evening, rumors had spread across parent online groups and mainstream media that the attacks were coordinated and that there would be even more on the climactic day dubbed "Bloody Friday.".

Classes were suspended at 59 schools across Poland on Friday, most of them in the Mazowiecka Voivodeship, where the capital Warsaw is located. School principals sent out reports of increased security measures, including placing additional school staff at entrances and voluntary backpack checks.

Among those detained on Friday are a 14-year-old boy from the central district of Warsaw who was found to have a knife with a hidden blade and 11 firecrackers, as well as a 16-year-old from another district of Warsaw who came to school with a butterfly knife in his backpack. Others posted photos online with knives, threatened their peers or attacked the school.

So far, the government has found no evidence that an online campaign promoting attacks on schools is ongoing. There is also no official confirmation that the two attacks were linked; both perpetrators are in custody.

Parents across Poland now have to quickly figure out how to talk to their children about school violence. Authorities say more security measures will be put in place at schools and training in crisis situations will be organised. The Liberal government has also promised to resume efforts to pass a bill blocking malicious online content. “If this juvenile attacker were broadcasting the crime online today, we would not be able to block this content because we did not have such a legal tool,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in a statement.

After three adults were injured in Thursday's attack, a 15-year-old who carried a camera with him to record his actions was eventually captured by the school's principal, Krzysztof Ochmanski. Later, Ochmansky told reporters that at one point the boy seemed to realize the enormity of his actions and said that he did not want to do it anymore.