In Gdynia, Poland, a grocery store customer threatened to kill a Ukrainian saleswoman. The incident occurred on December 9 in a store on Starowiejska Street. The man aggressively insulted the woman and shouted that he would “come in now and f**k her head off.” Two days after the incident, law enforcement officers detained the suspect.
According to the victim, Olga, the conflict erupted over meat that the aggressor's wife had purchased about 15 minutes earlier. The man claimed that the product "stank" and was supposedly specifically intended to "poison his children." He shouted loudly at the saleswoman, tried to go behind the counter and attack her.
When one of the customers tried to stand up for the woman and blocked his way, the aggressor began to threaten him. Eyewitnesses say that the man behaved extremely excitedly: he rushed around the store, shouted anti-Ukrainian slogans and demonstrated a gesture with his hand that resembled a Nazi salute. Olga managed to record part of the events on video. In the end, he was taken out of the premises by a woman who was probably his wife.
The police were called by one of the store's customers. Olga admits that after the incident she was in a difficult psychological state. According to her, she could not speak and was shaking badly, but she gathered her strength, worked her shift, after which she closed the store and contacted the police.
The next day, Olga's husband contacted lawyer David Dehnert, who works with the Foundation for the Assistance of Victims of Xenophobia, via social media. The lawyer reported that the Gdynia police promptly accepted the application and began an investigation. The Ukrainian Consulate in Gdansk was also informed about the incident. The lawyer posted a video from the store on his social media.
On December 12, the Gdynia police detained the suspect. The investigation is ongoing. According to a police spokesman, the evidence collected so far provides grounds for supplementing the legal qualification of the case with an article related to propaganda of the Nazi regime.
Lawyer David Dehnert notes that attacks and threats against Ukrainian citizens in Poland are becoming more frequent. He attributes this to the growing radicalization of public sentiment, in particular under the influence of aggressive online rhetoric and statements by individual politicians who are trying to gain popularity by playing on xenophobia.
