Another 131 illegal immigrants have been apprehended in Lithuania during the day, who have crossed the state border with Belarus illegally, but conflicts have broken out between foreigners accommodated there in two border guard stations, the State Border Guard Service (SBGS) said on Monday.
According to the statement, in Druskininkai municipality, two people from a detained group of 17 Iraqis have fled, the border guards have caught them with a dog, but one of the Iraqis tried to kick the dog and the dog bitten easily in his defense. The two men, who have still not obeyed the instructions, were knocked to the ground by the border guards and handcuffed. The bitten alien refused medical assistance.
Detained migrants are currently being tested for Covid-19 and will be isolated pending the results. Those migrants who have applied for asylum have been informed by the Lithuanian Migration Department, which will process their applications.
During the past day, conflicts have arisen in two border guard stations between foreigners temporarily housed there.
In one case, a conflict arose between 40 illegal migrants settled in a hangar area, which, according to preliminary information, was due to religious and cultural differences. Colleagues from neighboring stations have also rushed to reassure the disputants.
According to VSAT representative Ģiedrjus Mišutis, it is expected that in the future such conflicts may occur more often, therefore preventive monitoring of migrants will be of great importance so that disputes do not escalate into more serious incidents.
In the second station, on the other hand, about 60 people were involved in the dispute, expressing dissatisfaction with the way they were grouped by tents.
The flow of illegal migrants across the Lithuanian-Belarusian border has reportedly increased sharply recently. Since the beginning of this year, the total number of detained illegal immigrants has reached 2,730 – 34 times more than in the whole of last year.
In July alone, 2,070 cases of illegal border crossings were detected, while in June – 473 such cases, in May – 77, in April – 70, but in March – only eight. Most illegal migrants want to enter Western European countries through Lithuania.
Lithuanian officials believe that the Belarussian regime is deliberately facilitating the flow of migrants across the border.
Due to the migration crisis, a state of emergency has been declared in Lithuania.
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