Belarusian services are increasingly fueling migrants / Article

Polish border guards: Belarusian services are increasingly fueling migrants

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According to Anna Bihalska, a spokeswoman for the Polish border guard, although the overall situation at the border has subsided, more than 100 people try to cross the border every day. In addition, the aggression of the attackers has increased. The involvement of the Belarusian services in inciting violence is also becoming more and more pronounced.

“For several weeks now, we have been observing that the Belarusian services have prepared migrant groups very well, and that the Belarusian services themselves are no longer hiding.

They help dazzle us with lasers, throw us with firecrackers. They use tear gas and cut barbed wire in front of our eyes. We have photographic evidence to support this. At the beginning of August, these services were quite passive or did not cooperate with large groups. When these groups tried to cross the border illegally, we knew they were hiding somewhere in the back. Now they are no longer hiding, “Mikhail said.

About 30,000 people have tried to cross the Polish border since the crisis began in August. Polish border guards have forced almost 28,000 people to return to Belarus. This practice has repeatedly provoked criticism from human rights activists, who point out that both Belarusians and Poles are to blame for intimidation and violence. The lack of access to medical care or even water for migrants is particularly criticized. These days, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that migrants who have already arrived in Poland and have taken legal action cannot be deported to Belarus. In total, the court has received 47 claims from a total of 198 immigrants since August. In 44 cases, migrants had applied for international protection in Poland, two against Latvia and one against Lithuania.

The work of the Polish border guards so far in protecting the state border has also been praised by the Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Moravecki. He also reminded that the construction of a more thorough defensive wall on the Belarusian border will start very soon: “We will soon start building a defensive wall, which will be an effective way to protect us from illegal migration.

We have also taken a series of diplomatic steps, thanks to which many of the migrants have returned to the Middle East.

There is a possibility that Lukashenko’s regime may resign, but it is difficult to say who is in the minds of Lukashenko and his Kremlin supporters. Of course, we don’t know that, so we have to deal with the worst case scenario. “

As regards border security, Lithuania has also announced that it will equip the border with Belarus with a video surveillance system. The system, worth more than five million, will be located 45 kilometers long. It will allow constant monitoring of the border, detection of objects approaching or crossing it. The implementation of such a system is expected to be completed by November next year. The state of emergency on the border with Belarus has been extended until 15 January.

To date, more than 3,000 migrants from Iraq have left Belarus on special flights. The country’s embassy in Belarus has explained that about 175 people have also been issued transit passports because the original documents have been lost. Iraqi diplomats do not say how many migrants are still in Belarus. Poland claims that there are around 7,000 such people.

However, the media report that many of the migrants have no plans to return to their countries of origin and are ready to continue their journey to one of the European Union countries. Protests have even taken place in the logistics center used by the Belarusian authorities to house refugees, in which children have also taken part. According to Polish special services, the protests are being actively filmed and used for Belarusian propaganda, including against Poland, as well as to encourage migrants to try their luck crossing the borders of neighboring countries.

CONTEXT:

In the summer of 2021 the number of migrants increased significantly, which is trying to enter the territory of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland illegally from Belarus. Most migrants are arrived from Iraq.

Officials in the Baltic States and Poland pointed out that the Belarusian authorities deliberately do not obstruct the crossing of the borderto punish these countries for supporting the Belarusian opposition and sanctions against Alexander Lukashenko’s regime.

The European Union will do so described as the deployment of hybrid warfare and promises to help strengthen the EU’s external border.

On November 8, a large group of migrants gathered at the Belarusian border with Poland, trying to enter the territory of the European Union, but Poland refuses to allow these people because they believe that they are not refugees, but “tourists” who have come to Belarus voluntarily.

The Latvian government from August 11 declared a state of emergency on the border with Belarus, later on extended until 10 February. Latvia also plans to speed up Latvian-Belarusian border infrastructures construction.

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