Three injured in attack at Warsaw college, third Polish school attack in a week

Right · 2Three people were injured on Saturday 10 October in an attack at an educational institution in Warsaw, the third attack at a Polish school in less than a week, police said. 1 2 Right · 1Warsaw police spokesperson Jakub Filipiak said a report of an incident involving a dangerous weapon came in at 12:30; he said the attacker was a 21-year-old student of the college. 2 Right · 2Breitbart, citing the Associated Press, says the attacker is a 21-year-old woman who used a "dangerous object" on a 17-year-old and hurt two others aged 17 and 24. Reuters, carried by The Straits Times, says one person was taken to hospital and two bystanders did not need hospitalisation; none of the injuries was life-threatening. 1 2

Right · 1The state news agency PAP, cited by Reuters, reported that the victims were two 17-year-old girls and a 24-year-old woman who had come to submit enrolment documents, and that preliminary findings suggested the attacker and victims did not know each other. 2 Mixed · 2Al Jazeera says police did not name the institution, which was open on a Saturday because it offers higher education; it reports that the newspaper Wyborcza identified it as TEB Edukacja, a post-secondary school, and that national media said the suspect studied there. BBC News says the woman was arrested and that a Warsaw police spokesperson could not confirm whether the attack was related to the two earlier ones. 3 4 Right · 2Police said they had inspected about 50,000 schools and facilities nationwide and detained 76 people since Friday; Reuters says most of those detained were teenagers who had made threats online. 1 2

Right · 2The two earlier attacks were both in Mazovia. On Wednesday a 19-year-old attacked people at a school in Ostroleka; the AP puts the injured at nine, while Reuters says 10 people were wounded, including the attacker. On Thursday a 15-year-old former pupil killed a caretaker and wounded two others at a primary school in Leszczydol-Nowiny, and was overpowered by the school director. 1 2 Centre · 2BBC News names the caretaker killed on Thursday as a 37-year-old; AP-based reports say the 15-year-old wore a camera and that school director Krzysztof Ochmański, who overpowered him, said the boy at one point asked for help and wanted a hug. 4 5 Right · 1Before Saturday's attack, schools nationwide had stepped up security on Friday, with 59 suspending classes, many parents keeping children home, and rumours circulating of a coordinated "bloody Friday". The government said it had found no evidence of an online challenge promoting school attacks, and there was no official confirmation that the first two attacks were linked. 1

Centre · 2Those detained on Friday included a 14-year-old boy in Warsaw found with a concealed-blade knife and 11 firecrackers and a 16-year-old with a butterfly knife in his school backpack, according to AP-based reports. BBC News adds that Interior Minister Kierwiński said a 17-year-old was detained in Sierpc after allegedly saying he intended to harm someone, and that local media, citing a police spokesperson, reported authorities had information suggesting the week's incidents could be related to an internet challenge, which sits against the government's statement that it had found no such evidence. 5 4 Right · 2Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said there would be "no compromise" on youth safety, and Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the government would renew efforts to pass a bill blocking harmful online content. Reuters says Saturday's incident is likely to intensify fears of copycat violence. 1 2