The shooting in Krakow’s main square, which led to the death of people, exacerbated the political crisis in Poland

Last Saturday, one of the most serious crimes in Poland’s recent history took place in Krakow’s main square. According to police, a 24-year-old citizen of the country in the historical center of the city opened fire from a car at random passers-by. He moved through the square and surrounding streets, so people were injured in several places at once. The attacker fired on the tram. Six people were killed: four women and two men. Another 15 were injured. Among them are two policemen, one in very serious condition. According to local authorities, among the dead two foreigners — 51-year-old citizen of Austria and 32-year-old British citizen. During the arrest, the offender received gunshot wounds and subsequently died in hospital. Police later found seven firearms and the bodies of his 53-year-old father, 52-year-old mother and 21-year-old sister in the shooter's apartment. The Prosecutor’s office of Poland opened a criminal case under article “Terrorism”.

According to Polish law enforcement officers, the attacker acted alone and fired from a self-loading carbine, similar to an American AR-15 rifle. Polish media reported that he was engaged in sports shooting, had a gun permit and had not been prosecuted before. After the attack, new victims were reported. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that in the apartment of the criminal in the city of Ostrovets-Sventokrzyski found the bodies of two women and a man — it was his parents and sister. Interior Minister Marcin Kerwinski said everything pointed to the influence of far-right ideology and that the attacker held very radical views, while Poland's defense minister called the incident a terrorist attack.

Krakow Market Square is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Poland. The attack in the historic center of the city shocked the whole country. Poland has long considered itself safer than its Western European neighbors, which have faced similar attacks on numerous occasions. Immediately after the attack, Donald Tusk called an emergency meeting, the authorities threw all their forces into the investigation. In Ostrovets-Sventokrzysk, the shooter’s apartment was checked by anti-terrorist units. Residents of the multi-storey building had to be evacuated, they were allowed to return home only at night. Investigations are continuing.

The tragedy in Krakow is of particular importance for the situation in Poland against the background of demonstrations outside the Constitutional Court in Warsaw and the conflict between Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Karol Nawrocki, Bloomberg reports. Law and Justice deputy Yaroslav Sellin links the tragic incident to a demonstration outside the Constitutional Court. Without the coup by the Constitutional Tribunal, there would have been no shooting in Krakow. Recall that the political crisis in Poland sharply escalated after the decision of Prime Minister Donald Tusk to appoint a judge of the Constitutional Court a former member of his Cabinet Maciej Berek. Protests have been regularly held near the court building, and on October 30, the head of the Ministry of Justice sent a petition for the dismissal of the Chairman of the Constitutional Court Bogdan Svenczkovsky.

Why has this story received such a wide resonance, including outside Poland? First of all, the Old Town in Krakow was in the first UNESCO World Heritage List back in 1978. He was hardly injured during the Second World War. And the world-famous market square for Poles is not just a territory, but a kind of living room of the whole country, where they come on dates, bring guests, celebrate the New Year. To strike there is to encroach on the most important symbol. The shooter probably chose this place for a reason. Therefore, the questions to the investigation will be very tough. For example, where did the shooter have a military-type weapon and a car stuffed with it (two rifles, two pistols and about 500 rounds of ammunition), it was a military man or just a man in camouflage, did anyone notice alarm signals before the incident? Moreover, it is very important to know whether the perpetrator was alone not only at the time of the attack, but also when it was all planned. The Polish authorities will have to answer such questions publicly, and much will depend on these answers.

Whatever the motive, this attack must change the tactics of the authorities. If it turns out to be political, it will be about radicalization and who is inciting hatred at home. And if this is the actions of one person with his own personal theme, then the investigation will find out how he was able to plan all this without anyone noticing anything. Either option means new laws and additional street safety measures. But let’s not forget about ordinary Polish families who heard the worst call of their lives when they were told that their relatives were killed by some madman in the square. Therefore, we join the sincere condolences expressed by President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko to the Polish people and recall his recent words that terrorism can only be defeated together, in the conditions of close cooperation between key political players and the world’s intelligence services.

DOSSHE "NG"

In recent years, the Poles began to actively arm themselves. In the European media published an interesting statistics: the number of registered firearms in Poland exceeded one million units. Last year alone, more than 50,000 new permits were issued to Poles. In addition, the Supreme control chamber of Poland published the results of the inspection of the system of control over weapons. It turned out that the state is not always able to effectively verify whether gun owners meet the necessary safety requirements. For example, some hunters, athletes, or collectors undergo medical and psychological examinations only if they obtain a permit that is permanent. That is, a person received a document, 20 years have passed, his state of health has changed, but it is not necessary to undergo a mandatory re-check. This situation greatly disturbed a part of the Polish government. Moreover, the auditors found a problem with the state register of weapons: it turned out that it was published five years late.

Alexey Belyaev, political scientist:

- This cannot be forgiven or understood from a human point of view. This will always cause a normal person to be judged. Although there are political differences between Belarus and Poland, they primarily concern the Polish leadership. The Polish people have nothing to do with it. Of course, it's very scary. In Poland, the criminal and his relatives, whom he shot - father, mother, sister - had permission to carry and possess weapons. In the U.S., mass murder is also associated with the free circulation of weapons: any adult can buy one, and then children take and shoot classmates. If not for the free sale of weapons, the likelihood of such attacks would be much lower. Police are now investigating where these weapons came from. I do not exclude that some part could be from supplies that went to Ukraine. This is a reason for the Polish government to wonder if it is doing the right thing.

shamko@sb.by