Polish policeman seriously injured – government speaks of “attack on migrants”
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.
Water cannons, stones thrown and crying children. The situation on the border between Belarus and Poland temporarily escalated on Tuesday. According to the Ministry in Warsaw, migrants threw stones at soldiers and security forces – a police officer suffered a fractured skull.
A.On Tuesday, the situation on the border between Belarus and Poland temporarily escalated to thousands of migrants. Belarusian state media showed in various video sequences how water cannons were used by the Polish side against the migrants at the Kuznica-Brusgi crossing. The videos showed soaked people, including journalists, who were hit by the water jet. The Polish Ministry of Defense also released a video showing the use of a water cannon.
The Ministry in Warsaw spoke of an “attack by migrants” at the Kuznica border crossing. The refugees are very aggressive and throw stones at soldiers and security forces. “The migrants attacked our soldiers and officials with stones and are trying to destroy the fence and come to Poland,” said the Defense Ministry in Warsaw on “Twitter”. “Our forces used tear gas to end the aggression of the migrants.” The Belarusian side had also equipped them with pop grenades.
Later in the day, the situation at the border crossing calmed down again, according to the Polish border guards. “At the moment, the foreigners are returning from the Kuznica-Brusgi border crossing to the site of the former tent camp, which is a few hundred meters further on the border line,” said the border guards on Tuesday via Twitter. They also posted a video that shows people at the edge of the forest behind the border fortifications, warming themselves around campfires.
A policeman was seriously injured in clashes between Polish security forces and refugees. According to the Polish police, the officer suffered a fractured skull on Tuesday.
The Belarusian footage also showed migrants throwing stones at the Polish security forces. According to unconfirmed reports, the Polish side also used tear gas. Poland does not allow media for reporting from the border region.
200 migrants want to return to their homeland
According to the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko, there are more than 2000 people in a “migrant camp” who have been there for days. Crying children were also seen on the videos posted. Lukashenko announced after his phone call with Chancellor Angela Merkel that he was expecting another conversation with her. Lukashenko said that talks are also pending with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had offered to mediate in the conflict.
Many migrants are from Iraq. According to the agency Interfax, the country’s embassy in Moscow informed that around 200 people from Belarus now want to return to their homeland. Among them are families, women and children, it said. An “evacuation flight” from Minsk will be organized for this Thursday.