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Polish police detain Colombian over fatal stabbing, protests erupt

07.07.2025 12:00
Polish prosecutors were preparing charges on Monday against a 29-year-old Colombian suspected of fatally stabbing a local man, an incident that triggered anti-immigrant protests in the northern town of Nowe.
The accused man is brought to the prosecutors office by the police.
The accused man is brought to the prosecutor's office by the police.Photo: PAP/Tytus Żmijewski

A 29-year-old Colombian was taken to the district prosecutor’s office in nearby Świecie on Monday after a 41-year-old Pole died of knife wounds inflicted during a street brawl outside a bar in Nowe early Sunday, police said.

Thirteen men were arrested – ten Colombians employed at a local plant and three Polish residents. Two other people suffered minor injuries. Officers said the participants tried to flee in a car that rammed a patrol car before four intoxicated men, aged 21-45, were caught.

Police spokesperson Joanna Tarkowska told Polish Press Agency that the suspected murder weapon had been secured. Investigators are checking each detainee’s role and what sparked the fight.

Border-guard checks showed six of the Colombians are in Poland legally; one has been ordered to leave and another’s status is still being verified, provincial police spokeswoman Monika Chlebicz added.

The killing ignited anti-immigrant anger in the 6,000-strong town. About 100 residents gathered near the bar on Sunday afternoon, shouting “murderers” and demanding foreigners leave Poland. A second rally later chanted “not one immigrant”, led in part by the far-right nationalist All-Polish Youth (Młodzież Wszechpolska) movement.

Social-media calls circulated for “citizens’ patrols” in Nowe and other local communities. Similar appeals were voiced at a silent march in Toruń, after last month’s fatal stabbing of a 24-year-old woman, allegedly by a 19-year-old Venezuelan man.

(jh)

Source: PAP