A 12-year-old Ukrainian boy in Krakow was sprayed with gas in the face and mouth

A 12-year-old boy from Ukraine was taken to the emergency department after being attacked by a group of teenagers in Krakow, Poland. According to his mother, Kateryna Matviienko, who posted about the incident on social media, it happened on Sunday, October 25.

She specified the location and approximate time of the attack: between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m. at a pedestrian crossing near the Serenada shopping center, close to the McDonald’s on Bora-Komorowskiego Street.

The mother says the teenagers approached her son and asked where he was from. The boy replied that he was from Ukraine, after which they sprayed pepper spray into his face and mouth.

According to Kateryna Matviienko, the child experienced severe pain after the attack, and redness and irritation appeared on his skin and mucous membranes. Doctors examined him and prepared the relevant medical documents. Green marks were also left on her son’s skin and clothing, which his mother believes may be linked to the substance that was sprayed.

The woman noted that there are surveillance cameras nearby. In her view, their footage could be important to the investigation.

The mother appealed on social media for help finding a lawyer in Krakow who handles criminal cases, assaults on minors, and possible hate crimes based on national origin. She needs legal assistance to:

• protect the child’s interests;
• liaise with the police and prosecutor’s office;
• preserve surveillance camera footage.

The mother plans to contact law enforcement and provide the available evidence, including the documents prepared by the doctors and other materials related to the attack.

After her account was published, other Krakow residents commented that similar incidents had taken place near the Serenada shopping center. In particular, one user said that her son had been attacked in a similar way during the summer, and that the case is already being heard in court.

The materials currently available contain no official information from Polish law enforcement regarding the attack on the 12-year-old boy.

We previously reported:

• A man and a woman detained in Poland after an attack on Ukrainian children
• Broken nose and spinal injury: a group of young men beat a Ukrainian teenager in Poland
• Scandal in Poland: Ukrainian schoolchildren beaten after a teacher’s insulting remarks
• Beaten and filmed: underage “bloggers” from Mykolaiv region face criminal charges
• Shocking details: a 12-year-old displaced girl was beaten and extorted for 15,000 hryvnias in Bila Tserkva