Poland Repels Migrant Group Seeking to Enter From Belarus

(Bloomberg) -- A Polish border guard used tear gas to stop people from entering from the European Union country’s eastern border and officials warned of deepening tensions as hundreds of migrants gathered on the Belarusian side.

Security and military personnel prevented the people from crossing near the border station at Kuznica, the country’s Defense Ministry said on Twitter. “The situation is under control,” it said.

It attached a video appearing to show a guard spraying gas on people who are trying to dismantle a barbed-wire barrier blocking their entry into EU territory. News portal Onet.pl reported that tear gas has been used to push back the migrants, many of which have been stuck at the border between Poland and Belarus for weeks. 

Independent media access to the Polish border region, as well as visits by human-rights groups, have been banned by the government, triggering criticism from the EU.

“We’re now seeing the largest attempt of mass forced entry into Poland,” said Stanislaw Zaryn, the spokesman for the country’s secret services chief. He shared footage of what he said was a column of migrants approaching the border. Poland’s president and cabinet also held a crisis meeting in Warsaw.

In neighboring Lithuania, which shares borders with both nations, officials echoed Poland’s concerns and flagged they may put the country on a state of alert, which needs parliamentary approval. Security at detention centers that house migrants will also be boosted.

So far, Poland has seen about 30,000 people attempt to illegally enter the country from Belarus, including 17,300 in October alone. The government has erected a barbed-wire fence on the border, declared a state of emergency in the region and sent thousands of troops to patrol the area. 

Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Germany have accused Belarus of organizing flights for migrants from central Asia and helping them cross the border in a “hybrid attack” against the EU in retaliation of those countries’ support for Belarusian opposition activists.

While Poland’s government has been criticized by some humanitarian organizations and opposition parties for pushing the people back to Belarus, German authorities saw 1,500 illegal migrants -- mainly from Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Iran and Afghanistan -- entering the country in September and even more in October.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the exiled head of Belarusian opposition, blamed President Alexander Lukashenko for the escalation.

She called the “monstrous” scene near Polish border an “unprecedented provocation” aimed at punishing democratic countries and distracting their attention from what’s happening inside Belarus. 

Lukashenko is seeking to keep power while threatening neighbors with a “humanitarian catastrophe,” she said in an emailed statement. “Our joint task is to stop him.”

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