Hundreds of migrants head toward Polish-Belarusian border

Belarus is accused of sending migrants across the border in retaliation for EU sanctions.

WARSAW — Poland beefed up security on its border with Belarus on Monday to repulse a reported surge of hundreds of migrants — a dramatic escalation in the Belarusian ploy to send thousands of migrants to the EU.

By the end of the day, the Polish interior ministry said it had turned back one effort to cross the border, normal truck traffic through the border crossing was reportedly halted and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was calling on EU leaders to “finally approve” more sanctions against Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and his regime, authors of the scheme.

As the Polish government plotted its next move in a crisis meeting Monday, officials vowed to heighten their defenses.

“We are prepared to defend Poland’s borders,” tweeted Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak, who said that more than 12,000 troops have been sent to the border, up from an earlier 10,000. A video clip from the defense ministry showed hundreds of people gathered on the Belarusian side of the border fence.

Poland, along with Lithuania and Latvia, has seen thousands of attempted border crossings since August — part of what’s been dubbed Lukashenko’s “hybrid warfare” targeting the EU. He is accused of trying to undermine the EU after Brussels imposed sanctions against him and his top allies in the wake of a brutal crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators following last year’s fraudulent presidential election.

People are flying to Minsk from the Middle East, and then reportedly being helped by Belarusian authorities to get to the border with the EU. The bloc’s efforts to clamp down on such flights have had limited success.

Poland has declared a state of emergency in a 3-kilometer-wide strip along its border with Belarus, preventing journalists from working there. That makes it difficult to ascertain what is happening in the zone, but there are many online reports of a large number of people moving toward the frontier.

“The biggest mass attempt at forcing the Polish border has just begun,” tweeted Stanisław Żaryn, a spokesperson for the Polish special services minister.

The State Border Committee of Belarus said a large group of refugees was moving along a motorway toward the Polish border.

“The Polish border guard has repeatedly stated that it pushes migrants in their thousands towards the border with Belarus. The refugees attempted this step of desperation due to the indifference and inhumane attitude of the Polish authorities,” representatives of the Belarusian border service told the state-controlled Belta news agency.

Poland has insisted on dealing with the crisis on its own, refusing offers of help from Frontex, the EU’s border agency which is headquartered in Warsaw.

“Frontex is 1,300 officials. The Polish Border Guard is 16,000, assisted by 10,000 soldiers and the police,” Maciej Wąsik, Poland’s deputy interior minister, tweeted.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement Monday that “Belarus must stop putting people’s lives at risk,” and called on national EU capitals to “finally approve the extended sanctions regime on the Belarusian authorities responsible for this hybrid attack.”

“The Belarusian authorities must understand that pressuring the European Union in this way through a cynical instrumentalisation of migrants will not help them succeed in their purposes,” von der Leyen added. She said Commission officials plan to travel to migrants’ main countries of origin “to ensure that they act to prevent their own nationals from falling into the trap set by the Belarusian authorities” and that Brussels is looking into sanctioning third country airlines that are active in human trafficking.

Donald Tusk, leader of the opposition Civic Platform party, said Poland should get help from its NATO allies by invoking an article that calls for consultation if an alliance member’s territory is under threat.

Polish border guards say that since August 1, they have noted more than 30,000 attempts to illegally cross the border.

Poland has come under fire for pushing migrants back into Belarus and not allowing them to file asylum claims. At least nine deaths have been reported in or near the closed border zone. Polish activists working on the ground to help migrants keep warm and with food say the number of deaths could be much higher.

Despite a heavy presence along the border, hundreds of people are making it into the country; Germany has reported a sharp spike in the number of migrants intercepted on its border with Poland. In late October, Germany proposed holding joint patrols on the German-Polish side to counter a rise in illegal arrivals.

Lili Bayer contributed reporting from Brussels.

This article has been updated with a statement from Ursula von der Leyen.