Poland: Man arrested for arson at PM Tusk’s party headquarters in Warsaw PHOTO

A 44-year-old Polish man, identified as Krzysztof B., has been arrested for three months in connection with an arson attack on the building housing the headquarters of Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s Civic Platform party in Warsaw.

The decision was made during a closed session on October 22 at the District Court in Warsaw. Judge Marta Szemborska approved the prosecution’s request for pre-trial detention of the suspect, a local media outlet reports.

Suspect Krzysztof B. at the District Court in Warsaw

“The court granted the prosecution’s request and applied temporary detention to the man,” said prosecutor Anna Stachowicz.

The suspect, arrested on October 20 in eastern Poland, had previously been fined 3,000 PLN ($822) in May 2025 for issuing death threats against Tusk via social media on X, which prosecutors said instilled "justified fear" in the prime minister.

Witnesses described the October 17 incident: Krzysztof B., possibly aided by another individual, threw a Molotov cocktail at the building's entrance on Wiejska Street while shouting anti-government slogans, but a bystander intervened, preventing ignition and injuries. The attack caused no damage beyond a broken bottle, but Tusk on October 21 linked it to inflammatory rhetoric from far-right figures like Robert Bąkiewicz of the Border Defence Movement, who on October 11 called for "napalming" political opponents during a PiS rally—prompting an ongoing prosecutorial probe into incitement.

The incident heightens concerns over political violence in Poland, where Tusk's centrist government faces backlash from the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party and far-right groups amid judicial reforms and EU funds disputes.

On October 21, Tusk's administration also announced the detention of eight individuals in a separate Russia-linked sabotage plot, underscoring hybrid threats from Moscow.

By Khagan Isayev