On Thursday, October 8, reports about alleged attacks on schools that were supposedly to take place the following day spread on social media and messaging apps. The term “Bloody Friday” appearing in them is also causing concern among our readers. A reader from our region wrote to the istotne.pl editorial office with a question about the situation in our area:
“Is something being planned here regarding the so-called Bloody Friday? Any additional patrols near schools, or nothing?”
Late in the evening, just a few hours before Friday classes were due to begin, an important question remained: had the Bolesławiec authorities, county local governments and school principals agreed with the police on additional measures for October 9? This concerned both the presence of officers near the schools and the rules for admitting outsiders, as well as providing information to parents.
Police detain 17-year-old
As reported by Interia, police in the Masovian Voivodeship detained a 17-year-old resident of Przasnysz County who may have authored a recording containing threats against one of the schools in Przasnysz. Officers are carrying out investigative activities with him and determining his connection to the material. The detention does not mean that a nationwide plan to attack schools exists has been confirmed.
According to Onet, the services are checking reports about the alleged “Bloody Friday,” including suggestions that it involved an online challenge. Citing a government member responsible for security, the portal reported on Thursday evening that announcements of Friday attacks had not been confirmed.
The online reports appeared after attacks at schools in Masovia. On Wednesday, nine people were injured in Ostrołęka. On Thursday, another attack took place in Leszczydół-Nowiny near Wyszków, in which a 37-year-old school employee was killed. There is no confirmation, however, that these events were part of a coordinated action.
Police chief announces measures near schools
Chief of Police Gen. Insp. Marek Boroń announced on Polsat News that measures would begin on Friday morning, along with contact between officers, school principals and local governments. As reported by Wirtualna Polska, he also stressed the need to report to the police, teachers and pedagogues information about people who may be planning violence.
This nationwide declaration does not answer the question of the specific organization of patrols in Bolesławiec and the other localities in our county. The information verified for this article contains no confirmation of a detailed plan for local measures or of a threat concerning a specific school in our region.
Nor does this make it possible to conclude that local services and institutions have not made preparations. It remains to be established what measures were planned and whether students and parents received messages concerning Friday classes.
Some schools in Masovia change the organization of classes
According to Interia, secondary schools in Ciechanów decided to switch to remote learning on Friday. Regular classes will also not be held in schools in Pułtusk. Lessons were also canceled in primary schools in Wyszków Municipality. These are decisions concerning institutions in those areas and do not constitute information about changes at schools in Bolesławiec or Bolesławiec County.
On Thursday, the Sejm also passed an amendment providing procedures for restricting access to illegal content online. As reported by Interia, the provisions are intended to enable a faster response to material that violates the law. The bill will now go to the Senate; the vote itself does not mean that it has entered into force.
For residents of our region, the most important thing remains clear information about the safety of local schools. The reader’s question concerns specific measures: whether there will be additional patrols, whether principals have received recommendations, and whether parents should expect changes to the organization of classes.
Information about specific threats should be reported to the police and the school. In an immediate emergency, call 112. Recordings and messages circulating online should not be treated as confirmation of a planned attack.
Prof. Dudek: patrols alone will not solve the problem
Prof. Antoni Dudek commented on the authorities’ measures on the “Teraz WP” program. The historian and political scientist assessed that sending police to schools was primarily a demonstrative measure and did not address the causes of violence. He pointed to the need for more careful monitoring of warning signals online, which, in his view, could enable an earlier response.
Dudek linked some young people’s problems to the effects of isolation during the pandemic and the negative influence of social media. This was his assessment of possible causes of rising aggression, not a finding about the motives of the perpetrators of the recent attacks. He stressed that preventing violence requires many years of work and will not end with the issuance of a single regulation. He described the process as a “long and difficult war.”