Students at a school in Poland have beaten up several of their Ukrainian classmates, after a teacher earlier called the boys “scum,” national media outlet Onet reported on Tuesday.
The incident took place at a technical school in Slupsk in northern Poland, where Ukrainian teenagers are enrolled on vocational courses. Lawyer Dawid Dehnert, who contacted the relatives of those injured, cited a recording which allegedly captured one of the teachers calling the Ukrainians “scum” and warned that they would fail their exams “because I’ll prove to you what a Pole is.”
The parents of the victims told the media that one Polish student routinely played the sounds of falling bombs and rockets on his phone during lessons, telling his Ukrainian classmates “time to hide,” while the teacher did not intervene. “The teacher’s behavior during classes negatively impacted the Ukrainian students, but also encouraged and permitted xenophobic behavior among other students,” the lawyer claimed.
The situation reportedly escalated after class when the Ukrainians were beaten up outside the school, allegedly by Polish teens from upper classes. “One of the attackers first spat in the face of one of the Ukrainian boys, saying, ‘To the front, you Ukrainian whore,’ and then began punching him,” Dehnert said.
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As a result, one 16-year-old Ukrainian boy suffered a broken collarbone and another sustained a suspected concussion, according to the outlet. Video circulating on social media partially shows the altercation, with three students attacking one, who at one point is knocked down.
Parents said the beating ended only when a woman passing by threatened to call the police. One mother told Onet she initially tried to file a report at a nearby police station but was turned away and was told no officer was available, and had to file a complaint a day later.
The violent clash comes as Poland remains one of the main EU destinations for Ukrainians who have left their homes after the conflict with Russia escalated in 2022. Statista data show that nearly one million Ukrainians in Poland are registered under temporary protection.
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