Third School Knife Attack in a Week Puts Poland on Edge Over Copycat Fears

A 21-year-old woman injured three people in a knife attack at a post-secondary school in Warsaw on Saturday, the third attack on a school in Poland in less than a week. The woman was arrested, and police said none of the victims was in life-threatening condition, according to BBC News and Al Jazeera.

The incident came a day after a nationwide police operation and amid public fear of copycat violence. Officials have not confirmed any link between the three attacks.

What happened in Warsaw on Saturday

Warsaw police spokesman Jakub Filipiak said the attacker used a "dangerous object" at about 12:30 p.m. local time (10:30 GMT), Al Jazeera reported. She attacked a 17-year-old and also hurt two other people, aged 17 and 24. One person was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, Filipiak said. The other two did not need hospital treatment.

BBC News, citing Poland's state news agency, reported that the two other victims had come to the school to submit enrolment documents. Police told local media the suspect was a student at the school and that early findings suggested she did not know any of the three victims.

Police did not name the institution. Al Jazeera said the newspaper Wyborcza identified it as TEB Edukacja, which offers post-secondary education, and that national media reported the suspect studied there. Police said it was open on a Saturday because it is a higher education establishment. A Warsaw police spokesperson said they could not confirm whether the incident was related to the earlier attacks.

The two earlier attacks

On Wednesday, a 19-year-old student at a vocational school in the Mazovian province attacked fellow students, teachers and passersby with a sharp object, injuring nine people, according to Al Jazeera. He fled and was arrested nearby.

The next day, a 15-year-old entered his former primary school in Leszczydół-Nowiny, north of Warsaw, and killed a 37-year-old caretaker, BBC News reported. Al Jazeera said he also wounded two others. Both attackers were Polish nationals, and Al Jazeera described school violence by minors as a new phenomenon in Poland.

Separately, Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said a 17-year-old was detained in the town of Sierpc, northwest of Warsaw, after allegedly saying on school grounds that he intended to harm someone, BBC News reported.

Police response and unanswered questions

Police said they detained 76 people as they deployed to schools across the country. Al Jazeera reported that nearly 50,000 schools were checked, while BBC News described the operation as thousands of police visiting schools and placed it on Friday. Reports differ on exactly when the checks took place.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said before the operation that there was "no room for compromise" on the safety of children and peace in schools, according to BBC News.

Reports also differ on the possible cause. BBC News said local media, citing a police spokesperson, reported that authorities had information suggesting the week's incidents could be related to an internet challenge. Al Jazeera reported that the government had earlier said it had found no evidence that such a challenge promoting school attacks was ongoing, and that there is no official confirmation that any of the attacks are linked.

What this means for families and students in Poland

For parents and students, the main effect has been visible changes at school gates. Al Jazeera reported that on Friday schools across Poland stepped up security, many parents kept children at home, and police patrols were posted at educational institutions. Fifty-nine schools suspended classes in advance, most of them in the Mazovian district, which includes Warsaw. School directors announced extra staff at entrances and voluntary backpack checks.

Rumors played a role in that response. According to Al Jazeera, claims that the attacks were coordinated and that more would follow on a day dubbed "bloody Friday" circulated in parents' online groups and in mainstream media by Thursday night. No further attack was reported that day, but the Warsaw incident on Saturday has kept concern high.

Saturday's attack also shows that security concerns extend beyond primary and secondary schools. It took place at an adult-education institution that was open on a weekend for enrolment, and two of the three people hurt were visitors or bystanders rather than regular pupils.

Sources: BBC News, Al Jazeera