Poland school knife attack in Warsaw injures three in third incident in a week

What happened in Warsaw

A 21-year-old student has been arrested after attacking three people with a dangerous object at an educational institution in Warsaw on Saturday, marking the third school attack in Poland in less than a week.

Warsaw police said the suspect attacked a 17-year-old student and injured two other women, aged 17 and 24, who were visiting the premises to submit enrolment documents. Police told local media that initial findings suggest the suspect did not know her victims.

All three victims were taken to hospital, though authorities confirmed none of their injuries are life-threatening.

Nationwide security operation and copycat fears

Saturday's violence came amid heightened national security after two earlier stabbings shook the country. Polish police said they had inspected nearly 50,000 schools across the country and detained 76 people to prevent further violence and respond to online threats.

Warsaw police spokesperson Jakub Filipiak confirmed the arrest on Saturday, though police stated they could not immediately establish whether the latest incident was connected to the previous attacks.

The heightened security followed two violent incidents in the central province of Mazovia earlier in the week. On Wednesday, a 19-year-old student attacked fellow students, teachers and passersby at a vocational school, injuring nine people before being arrested nearby.

On Thursday, a 15-year-old entered a primary school in Leszczydół-Nowiny, north of Warsaw, where he stabbed and killed a 37-year-old female school caretaker and injured two others. The teenager, who reportedly wore a camera to record the attack, was overpowered by school director Krzysztof Ochmanski.

Mass detentions and online threats

Concerns escalated late in the week as rumours circulated across parents' messaging groups and social media regarding potential coordinated attacks on Friday, dubbed online as "bloody Friday".

In response, 59 schools suspended classes on Friday while police deployed officers to patrol educational facilities, station staff at entrances and perform voluntary backpack checks.

Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said there would be no compromise regarding youth safety. During nationwide sweeps, officers detained a 14-year-old boy in central Warsaw carrying a knife with a concealed blade and 11 firecrackers, a 16-year-old found with a butterfly knife in a school backpack, and a 17-year-old in Sierpc who allegedly made verbal threats on school grounds. Several others were detained for posting threats or pictures of weapons online.

While local media reported suspicions that the attacks might be connected to an internet challenge, government officials said they have found no evidence so far of an organised online challenge encouraging the violence.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk stressed the urgency of passing new legislation to regulate harmful online content, noting that current legal frameworks limit the state's ability to block live-streamed criminal acts online. Authorities said enhanced security measures and crisis-response training will remain in place across Polish schools.