In the Media: Kacper Rekawek on Polish School Attacks

Following a series of attacks on schools across Poland this week, ICCT Senior Researcher Kacper Rekawek was widely sought out as an expert voice. The incidents began on 7 October with a knife attack at a vocational school in Ostrołęka and continued the next day with a fatal attack on a school employee in Leszczydół-Nowiny. Rumors of further coordinated attacks led 59 schools to suspend classes on Friday.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Kacper noted the geographic and temporal proximity of the incidents and described a copycat pattern reaching back to the 2019 Christchurch attacks, arguing that the events should be placed "within the confines of essentially terrorist behavior." In an interview with Wyborcza he discussed the lack of a prevention system for these kinds of cases in Poland: "Poland has a system to punish for terrorism or terrorism related activities but it does not have a prevention system. If someone is deemed a threat then the security responds and if this is a minor then they usually end up in a correctional facility. That is not enough." He also appeared on Wiadomości, Tok FM and TVP World.

Read the articles and listen to the interviews here:

• Associated Press

• Wiadomości (in Polish)

• Tok FM (in Polish)

• TVP World 

• Wyborcza (in Polish)