The Polish Ministry of Defense reported attacks by migrants on Polish soldiers guarding the border crossing in Kuznica. “Aggressive migrants continue to throw stones at our soldiers and officers. Polish services are repelling the attack,” the agency said on Twitter on Tuesday, November 16. It is also reported that the Polish military “used tear gas to suppress the aggression of migrants.”
According to the Polish Ministry of Defense, the migrants received flash-noise grenades from the Belarusian security forces and started throwing them at Polish servicemen. “Today’s attack is being carried out under the strict control of employees of the Belarusian services,” the department further wrote.
Poland accused Belarusian security officials of damaging barriers
In addition, Poland accused the Belarusian security forces of destroying barriers on the border of the two countries. “Last night, four Belarusian servicemen tried to damage the fence and force 11 migrants to move to Poland. The soldiers managed to stop this attempt,” the Defense Ministry said on Twitter. A video released by the Polish department shows how a man in camouflage on the Belarusian side of the barriers in the dark tries to destroy barbed wire barriers, and when the Poles approach, he runs away.
In turn, the Polish border guard service announced more than 200 attempts by migrants to cross the border from Belarus. “Yesterday, November 15, 224 attempts to cross the Belarusian-Polish border were recorded. Border guards issued instructions to 29 foreigners to leave the territory of the Republic of Poland,” the department said. In particular, at the section of the border post in Dubich-Tserkevna, a group of 100 people unsuccessfully tried to cross the border, it is indicated further.
This information cannot be verified, since Poland has declared a state of emergency in the border region and does not allow journalists to enter it. The same applies to the statements of Minsk.
Conflict on the border of Poland and Belarus
The situation on the eastern external border of the European Union escalated sharply on November 8, when several thousand migrants approached it from Belarus, intending to move to the European Union. According to various sources, thousands of people are stuck on the border between Poland and Belarus, who spend the night in temporary camps at low temperatures.
In recent days, groups of migrants have repeatedly tried to break through the barriers and cross the border. In particular, on November 14, the Polish border service reported 223 such attempts in just one day. The report notes that two attempts were made to forcefully cross the border in Dubichi-Tserkevna and Kolonia-Klukovichi.
At the end of May, Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko announced that the authorities would no longer detain refugees trying to illegally enter the EU through Belarus. At the beginning of autumn, the number of flights from the Middle East to Minsk increased significantly. After that, the flow of migrants seeking to the EU from Belarus sharply increased. The European Union accuses the Lukashenka regime of deliberately provoking a tense situation and organizing the transfer of thousands of people to the borders of the European Union in response to European sanctions. In response to the “hybrid attack” of Minsk, the European Union plans to introduce a fifth package of sanctions.
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