Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said police had arrested a man accused of threatening to assassinate him and Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, after authorities raised the alarm over a potential attack.
“The man threatening an attack has been detained,” Mr Tusk wrote on X, commending police for their “swift and decisive action”.
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Poland’s security services had earlier held an emergency meeting after receiving information about a possible attack targeting Mr Tusk and Mr Kosiniak-Kamysz.
Jacek Dobrzynski, a spokesperson for the special services, declined to provide details but said officials regarded the warning as “deadly serious”.
Karolina Galecka, a spokesperson for the Interior Ministry, said the State Protection Service had passed an email containing information about the possible attack to police. The service is responsible for protecting ministers.
Private broadcaster Radio Zet reported that police had received an email outlining the threat.
Police are seen outside the school where a 15-year-old boy fatally stabbed the caretaker
Although violent crime remains relatively uncommon in Poland, the country is sharply divided politically and faces heightened security concerns because of its proximity to the war in Ukraine.
In August, police arrested a 23-year-old man accused of urging the assassination of senior Polish politicians.
Mr Tusk said in 2024 that he had received threats following an assassination attempt on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.
The latest warning came as Poland remained on high alert after a series of violent incidents at schools, including the fatal stabbing of a caretaker on Thursday.
Mr Tusk has described the school attacks as “spontaneous acts” fuelled by the online “glorification of violence”.
Three attacks occurred at schools in Mazovian province, in central Poland, over four days. One person was killed and many others, including children, were injured.
Police hugging children outside the school where a 15-year-old boy fatally stabbed the caretaker
By this morning, police had detained 117 people across Poland over allegations involving knives or other dangerous weapons, or threats to attack schools or fellow pupils. Officials checked about 64,000 schools.
“We are not dealing with any group organised on a big scale,” Mr Tusk said at a crisis meeting attended by government officials and security services.
“These are very often spontaneous actions inspired by online activity.
“In the past years and months, we have noted – globally and in Poland – a rise in the fascination with violence.”
A post on X shows a teenager in a mask in Warsaw ahead of what was called ‘bloody Friday’, which prompted the closure of several schools
Mr Tusk said the incidents could be linked to what authorities call “nihilistic violence” – acts driven by a nihilistic worldview and misanthropy rather than by defined political aims.
In Poland, he said, “some of the people detained are active in the ultra-right environment”.
He added that officials had detected increased online searches for Nazi material and for “mass killers who have become idols online”.
Mr Tusk said Poland was confronting a “civilisational phenomenon” in which children play video games, including seemingly ordinary ones, or develop an interest in crime stories before being exposed to increasingly graphic forms of violence.
