By Pawel Florkiewicz and Alicja Surdy
WARSAW, Oct 9 (Reuters) – Polish police have arrested a string of young people, mainly for making threats related to school attacks, they said on Friday, as authorities sought to calm fears spurred by rumours online of a “Bloody Friday” after two stabbing sprees in as many days.
Social media in Poland has been filled with talk of a supposed online challenge that could be behind the attacks, but police on Friday said their investigations had found no evidence of this.
The incidents have prompted a nationwide security response, with police deployed to 10,000 schools and the government warning against the spread of misinformation that officials fear could inspire copycat attacks.
“There is a lot of emotionally charged misinformation circulating online – spontaneous reactions born of understandable anxiety – but there is no sign of any nationwide ‘challenge’ taking place,” Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski told private broadcaster TVN24.
“We cannot rule out the possibility that one, two or three individuals might be communicating in a group, hatching a plan, or that a copycat could emerge. However, we see no evidence of a threat stemming from a group of people coordinating to harm someone today.”
POLICE PRESENT AT SCHOOLS NATIONWIDE
Police said they had detained 10 people, mainly for making threats online, with further arrests being announced as the morning progressed.
These included a 13-year-old from Warsaw who posted a photo of a knife in a class group chat and threatened other students, a 14-year-old in Warsaw detained on school grounds with a knife and firecrackers, and two 15-year-olds from Pruszkow County just outside the capital who posted a video with threats to kill.
On Thursday, a 15-year-old former pupil wearing a helmet-mounted camera killed one employee and injured two others at a Polish primary school in Leszczydol-Nowiny, northeast of Warsaw. On Wednesday, a 19-year-old wounded 10 people including himself at another school in Ostroleka, northeastern Poland.
Several social media accounts posted pictures of a TikTok account which supposedly belonged to Thursday’s attacker and featured images taken before the attack. Reuters was unable to find the account, which appeared to have been taken down.
“Officers from the Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime (CBZC) are aware of the content posted on the TikTok account in question,” CBZC told Reuters by email, adding that it was cooperating with the platform.
TikTok did not reply to an emailed request for comment.
(Reporting by Pawel Florkiewicz, Alicja Surdy, Alan CharlishEditing by Gareth Jones)
