Police: no signs yet that a school-attack “challenge” exists

Police checked rumours of an online “challenge” in which teenagers are supposedly to attack schools: social media carried posts about a “bloody Friday” on 9 October. “So far nothing indicates that such a phenomenon really exists,” police said on X in the morning. Officers across the country are responding to all reports and tracking alarming signals online.

The Ministry of the Interior asks people to stay calm, not to forward unverified messages and to use only reliable sources. Police warn those who deliberately try to cause panic of criminal liability.

On Friday some schools in the Masovian Voivodeship are closed, and many have police and municipal guard patrols on duty. In the Wyszków gmina, where on Thursday a 15-year-old attacked a school in Leszczydół-Nowiny, all primary schools and kindergartens are closed, with only supervision groups operating. Secondary schools are closed, in particular in the Pułtusk, Wołomin and Ciechanów powiats, and schools and kindergartens in Piaseczno. The authorities of Góra Kalwaria asked parents to keep children at home.