The police in Gdańsk detained a man who regularly insulted and threatened a Żabka store employee because of her Ukrainian nationality. The arrest was announced on social media by the Minister of the Interior and Administration, Marcin Kerwiński. The man turned out to be a Polish citizen and a football fan. He faces up to three years in prison for a hate crime.
“Absolute zero tolerance for aggression,” Kerwiński wrote on social media.
Previously, the victim shared details of the incident on Threads. According to her, she has lived in Poland for almost five years, but had rarely encountered xenophobia before starting work at the store. While working as a cashier in a residential area of Gdańsk, where most customers are Poles over 30-40 years old, she faced negative reactions almost daily due to her Ukrainian background and accent. Customers became irritated when she asked them to repeat what they said or made insulting remarks because she did not know the names of certain cigarettes or alcohol.
The most unpleasant incident occurred on the first day of her internship. A customer asked to buy a lottery ticket, and since the girl was not yet familiar with the system, she asked him to wait 15 seconds for a colleague to come over.
“In those 15 seconds, I heard a lot of filth directed at me: that I was incompetent, stupid, a ‘whore’ who should go back to Ukraine to tend to chickens. I was so shocked that I couldn’t hold back my tears,” she recounted.
This same man continued to come to the store regularly. During the last conflict, the girl immediately reported the situation to the manager, called security, and began recording the incident on video. After that, the manager stated that he would contact the police; however, the next day the man returned, acted aggressively, and threw a basket at the girl.
After the video gained widespread attention on social media, lawyers and law enforcement contacted the girl. She also filed an official complaint with the police. On Friday, June 26, Minister Kerwiński announced the detention of the suspect.
