The migration crisis leads to an escalation of violence – in the evening “relative” calm
Clashes with migrants – Polish policeman seriously injured
A Polish police officer was seriously injured in clashes between security forces and migrants on the border with Belarus. WELT reporter Christoph Wanner reports on the current situation.
The situation on the border between Belarus and Poland temporarily escalated on Tuesday. Stones flew and a policeman suffered a fractured skull. Towards evening the situation calmed down. According to Belarusian sources, some migrants want to fly back to Iraq.
B.Several people were injured in violent clashes between Polish security forces and refugees on the Belarusian border. Polish security forces reportedly used tear gas and water cannons against refugees on Tuesday after they were pelted with stones from their ranks.
Seven police officers, a border guard and a soldier were injured. According to Belarusian sources, several refugees also had to receive medical treatment.
The Polish Ministry of Defense said there had been “an attack by migrants” to which the security forces had responded. The situation escalated when refugees tried to destroy the border fence near the Bruzgi-Kuznica crossing.
A man on a fence on the Belarusian-Polish border when migrants tried to enter Poland on Tuesday
Source: via REUTERS
According to the Belarusian Ministry of Health, around 20 of the migrants currently camping on the Polish border have received medical treatment in the past few days. Five of them were cared for on Tuesday because of problems with their eyes or breathing difficulties.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov condemned the actions of the Polish security forces as “absolutely unacceptable”. According to him, they also fired “shots over the heads of migrants in the direction of Belarus”.
Merkel spoke about the “difficult situation at the border” and humanitarian aid
The government in Minsk accused Warsaw of being responsible for the escalation of violence. “Direct provocations and inhuman treatment” of the “disadvantaged” people at the border came from the Polish side, said Foreign Office spokesman Anatoli Glas.
A man throws a stone towards the Polish border fence and Polish security forces on Tuesday as migrants tried to enter Poland
Source: via REUTERS
The EU, on the other hand, accuses Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko of deliberately smuggling refugees into the border area with the EU in order to take revenge for earlier sanction decisions by the European Union. Minsk rejects this allegation.
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) called for a de-escalation on Monday in a phone call with Lukashenko. According to the federal government, the conversation revolved around “the difficult situation on the border” with the EU. Above all, it was about “the need for humanitarian aid”.
Merkel was the first Western head of government to have spoken to Lukashenko on the phone since the controversial re-election of Lukashenko in 2020. The Greens criticized the phone call as a “devastating signal”. Your foreign politician Omid Nouripour pointed out on Deutschlandfunk that the EU did not recognize Lukashenko’s re-election. With her phone call, however, Merkel de facto achieved exactly this recognition.
“Extremely dangerous situation”
Lukashenko assured on Tuesday that he wanted to avoid a “heated confrontation” at the border. He agreed with Merkel that an escalation would not benefit anyone – “neither the EU nor Belarus,” said Lukashenko, according to the state news agency Belta. According to the Kremlin, he also called Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday about the situation at the EU border.
According to the Polish border guards, around 4,000 migrants are currently camping in freezing temperatures on the Belarusian side of the border. On Tuesday, Minsk announced the establishment of a “logistic center” in the Grodno region where migrants could stay overnight.
The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, spoke of an “extremely dangerous situation” after visiting areas on the Polish side of the border. She called for unrestricted access for aid organizations and media workers to the border area. On the basis of a state of emergency, Warsaw is currently banning aid workers and journalists from entering the border area.
EU prepares new sanctions
The EU is currently preparing new sanctions against Belarus. The EU foreign ministers set the course for this on Monday. The US State Department also announced new punitive measures against Minsk. At the same time, the EU recently put pressure on the refugees’ countries of origin and transit to prevent flights to Minsk. In some cases this has already shown success.
Turkish Airlines blocked all flights to Minsk for people from Syria, Iraq and Yemen, and the Syrian airline Cham Wings suspended its connections to the Belarusian capital. The Iraqi embassy in Moscow announced on Tuesday that it would begin voluntary repatriation of Iraqis from Belarus. According to this, 200 people are to be flown back to Iraq on Thursday.