Migrants camp overnight at Polish border after tense day
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Polish police posted video early Tuesday showing a group of migrants who had camped overnight just on the far side of Poland's eastern border in Belarus. Polish riot police and coils of razor wire faced the migrants and police said the situation overnight was calm.
That followed a day of heavy tensions on the border, where a large group of migrants - hundreds if not thousands of people mostly from the Middle East and encouraged by Belarus - sought to push their way into Poland.
In videos posted on Twitter, tents and campfires can be seen as the Polish police play an announcement warning the migrants that crossing the Polish border is only allowed at official border crossings.
But as of early Tuesday, the nearest crossing point, in Kuznica, in the northeast of the country, was closed.
The situation marks an escalation in months of migration pressure against Lithuania and Poland, and to a lesser extent Latvia, the three EU states on the bloc's eastern border with Belarus.
The migrants are mostly from Iraq and Syria, though some have come from Africa, seizing on the chance of a new migration route to enter Europe. Most seek to only pass through Poland to reach Germany or other countries in western Europe.
Migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere rest on the ground as they gather at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno, Belarus, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. Poland increased security at its border with Belarus, on the European Union's eastern border, after a large group of migrants in Belarus appeared to be congregating at a crossing point, officials said Monday. The development appeared to signal an escalation of a crisis that has being going on for months in which the autocratic regime of Belarus has encouraged migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere to illegally enter the European Union, at first through Lithuania and Latvia and now primarily through Poland. (Leonid Shcheglov/BelTA via AP)
Poland has received strong signals of support and solidarity from the EU and EU member states and the United States as it faces its border crisis.
Germany´s outgoing interior minister, Horst Seehofer, said on Tuesday that all EU countries "must stand together, because (Belarusian President Alexander) Lukashenko is using people´s fates with the support of Russian President Vladimir Putin to destabilize the West." He called for the European Commission to support Poland in securing the border.
"The Poles have reacted correctly so far," Seehofer told German daily Bild of Poland´s reinforcement of the border. "We cannot criticize them for securing the EU´s external border with admissible means ... the Poles are fulfilling a very important service for the whole of Europe."
Seehofer´s deputy, Stephan Mayer, told Bild that "Germany could send police very promptly to support Poland if Poland wants that."
So far Poland's ruling nationalists have refused help from Frontex, the EU's border agency.
Polish border guards stand near the barbed wire as migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere gather at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno, Belarus, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. Poland increased security at its border with Belarus, on the European Union's eastern border, after a large group of migrants in Belarus appeared to be congregating at a crossing point, officials said Monday. The development appeared to signal an escalation of a crisis that has being going on for months in which the autocratic regime of Belarus has encouraged migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere to illegally enter the European Union, at first through Lithuania and Latvia and now primarily through Poland. (Leonid Shcheglov/BelTA via AP)
Migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere gather at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno, Belarus, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. Poland increased security at its border with Belarus, on the European Union's eastern border, after a large group of migrants in Belarus appeared to be congregating at a crossing point, officials said Monday. The development appeared to signal an escalation of a crisis that has being going on for months in which the autocratic regime of Belarus has encouraged migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere to illegally enter the European Union, at first through Lithuania and Latvia and now primarily through Poland. (Leonid Shcheglov/BelTA via AP)
Men shout slogans as they gathers with other migrants at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno, Belarus, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. Poland increased security at its border with Belarus, on the European Union's eastern border, after a large group of migrants in Belarus appeared to be congregating at a crossing point, officials said Monday. The development appeared to signal an escalation of a crisis that has being going on for months in which the autocratic regime of Belarus has encouraged migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere to illegally enter the European Union, at first through Lithuania and Latvia and now primarily through Poland. (Leonid Shcheglov/BelTA via AP)
Children look out from a tent as migrants gather at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno, Belarus, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. Poland increased security at its border with Belarus, on the European Union's eastern border, after a large group of migrants in Belarus appeared to be congregating at a crossing point, officials said Monday. The development appeared to signal an escalation of a crisis that has being going on for months in which the autocratic regime of Belarus has encouraged migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere to illegally enter the European Union, at first through Lithuania and Latvia and now primarily through Poland. (Leonid Shcheglov/BelTA via AP)
A Polish military helicopter fly over a group of migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere gathering at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno, Belarus, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. Poland increased security at its border with Belarus, on the European Union's eastern border, after a large group of migrants in Belarus appeared to be congregating at a crossing point, officials said Monday. The development appeared to signal an escalation of a crisis that has being going on for months in which the autocratic regime of Belarus has encouraged migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere to illegally enter the European Union, at first through Lithuania and Latvia and now primarily through Poland. (Leonid Shcheglov/BelTA via AP)
A man carries a child as he gathers with other migrants at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno, Belarus, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. Poland increased security at its border with Belarus, on the European Union's eastern border, after a large group of migrants in Belarus appeared to be congregating at a crossing point, officials said Monday. The development appeared to signal an escalation of a crisis that has being going on for months in which the autocratic regime of Belarus has encouraged migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere to illegally enter the European Union, at first through Lithuania and Latvia and now primarily through Poland. (Leonid Shcheglov/BelTA via AP)
