Thousands of migrants arrive at Polish border as soldiers sent in

by · Metro

A huge caravan of people desperate to reach Europe is massed on the Polish border.

Thousands are passing through Belarus, which has been accused of allowing the migrants to reach the border in retaliation for economic sanctions.

Poland has mobilised its territorial defence force to help border control prevent the group entering the EU as fears of a violent clash rise.

With troops on both sides of the border and thousands desperate to cross, the humanitarian situation risks spiralling out of control.

Poland’s deputy foreign minister alleged Belarus is attempting to provoke a ‘major incident, preferably with shots fired and casualties’.

Video posted on social showed a huge number of people walking down the motorway to the border.

One Polish minister said there are 12,000 security personnel awaiting the crowd.

It’s unclear to what extent the migrants are being assisted by the Belarusian authorities but they appear to have met little resistance on their way to the border with Europe.

Thousands of migrants are flying into Minsk and then attempting to cross into Europe by foot, often in freezing temperatures (Picture: Metro Graphics)
A huge security presence is attempting to turn back the crowd, some of whom are using wire cutters to get through the fence (Picture: Reuters)

Footage circulated on social line show people getting through the first of two security fences separating the neighbouring countries.

The Polish Interior Ministry said its border force had prevented an attempted surge earlier and it appears few, if any, have managed to cross today.

It’s the latest escalation in what has been a steadily deteriorating situation at Europe’s border with the rogue state over a number of months.

Belarus’ poor diplomatic relations with the rest of the continent all but collapsed during the violent response to protests in the wake of the 2020 election.

Authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko was re-elected in a vote widely seen as lacking legitimacy amid widespread reports of fraud.

Lukashenko has been accused of weaponising the migration crisis in recent months to put pressure on Brussels to relax sanctions.

An increased number of flights have been landing in Minsk from Middle East countries, fuelling allegations the government is turning a blind eye to traffickers encouraging people to travel to Belarus as a stop-gap to reaching Europe.

This morning alone, several flights from Egypt and Turkey landed, countries which house millions displaced by the Syrian Civil War.

There has been a sharp increase in the number of flights arriving in Minsk from the Middle East and Turkey in recent months
The Belarusian president has been marginalised by the European Union and has been accused of using the flow of migrants through Belarus as a revenge tactic (Picture: TASS)

Members of Poland’s of Territorial Defence Forces have been instructed to head for the border and social media footage shows other military assets have also been sent in.

According to the interior minister for Lithuania, which borders Belarus to its south and Poland to its west, the government is preparing to declare a state of emergency in its border regions and is moving troops to vulnerable areas.

The attempted mass crossing is taking place near Kuznica in the north east of Poland.

Pictures circulated on social media show groups of recently arrived people sleeping rough on the streets of Minsk.

Humanitarian groups accuse Poland’s ruling nationalists of violating the international right to asylum by pushing migrants back into Belarus instead of accepting their applications for protection. Poland says its actions are legal.

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