The tension on the border of Poland and Belarus has escalated hour after hour.
The Polish government is repelled hundreds of migrants who try to enter the country by its eastern border, to which thousands more were en route from inside Belarus .
Images broadcast through various media showed hundreds of people near a border fence made of barbed wire, which some were trying to break through.
Given this Poland deployed 12. 12 soldiers and their government had an emergency meeting.
They accuse Belarus of inciting migrants to the border in a “hostile” act.
Poland, Lithuania and Latvia – three countries of the European Union (EU) – say that h There has been an increase in the number of people trying to enter their countries irregularly from Belarus in recent months.
“I call on the member states to approve once and for all the expanded sanctions regime against the Belarusian authorities responsible for this hybrid attack, “said the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen on Monday.
Many of the migrants come from countries in the Middle East and Asia.
How did you get to this point?
The EU has accused the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko , to facilitate the influx of migrants to the borders of the bloc in retaliation for the sanctions it has received.
The economic sanctions against Belarus, which have also been joined by the United States and Canada, have come before the repression of pro-democracy protests and the oppression of opposition leaders.
The government of Lukashenko rejects that it is a maneuver of his government and points out that the EU violates the rights of those who seek refuge.
Poland has also received criticism for the treatment it gives to migrants and refugees at its border. The country has built a barbed wire fence in the face of the massive arrival of people.
The Polish Border Guard also said it will close its border crossing with Belarus in Kuznica starting this Tuesday for the morning.
Conditions for migrants are so hostile that they threaten the lives of the people there. And with the arrival of winter, there are fears that women, men and children will not endure freezing temperatures.
Upon being massively expelled from Poland, and with Belarus rejecting their re-entry, l The migrants meet n varad os and in the cold Polish forests. Several have died of hypothermia .
The head of the Polish National Security Council, Pawel Soloch, He said he expected “groups of several hundred people” to suddenly resume crossing attempts.
“They know they are being used ”
Barwa Nusreddine Ahmed, a brother of an Iraqi immigrant who was on the border with his wife and three children, spoke with the BBC.
He explained that his relatives arrived in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, last month and then They headed to the border.
With little to eat or drink, the stranded people were suffering, said Ahmed.
He assured that the transfer to the post border was planned on social networks by my own grantes , as the Belarusian authorities were putting pressure on them.
“People know they are being used , but they have no future ”, said Ahmed.
Tensions escalated on Monday, the day on which, according to videos posted on social networks, it was seen A column of people, including women and children, walking towards the Polish border in Belarus.
Other videos showed large numbers of migrants escorted by armed men dressed in khaki.
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Piotr Wawrzyk accused Belarus of trying to orchestrate a major incident near Kuznica Bialostocka , a town near the border, and warned of “a massive border crossing attempt” .
Other images You can see crowds of migrants trying to break through a barbed wire fence at the border, but the Polish border guards tell them prevent passing.
A significant escalation
By Paul Adams, BBC Diplomacy Correspondent
This is a significant escalation in a crisis that has been raging since the middle of the year.
For months, Belarus’s neighbors in the EU have been accusing the Lukashenko regime of “using as weapon ”migration, in revenge for successive waves of EU sanctions on Minsk.
Migrants have related numerous stories about the role Belarusian soldiers played in helping them make illegal crossings to Poland and Lithuania.
Some cross small s groups, while others claim that they were transported to the border in military trucks and that they have been shown where to go.
But the latest images of the Polish border are unprecedented, and they recall scenes of the border between Greece and Macedonia at the height of the migration crisis of 2015 – 2016.
The mere concentration of people at a single crossing point, together with the presence of Belarusian soldiers, apparently doing nothing to stop the flow of migrants towards the border, suggest that once again this is being orchestrated.
It is an accusation that Belarus denies.
Migrants seek “protection”, says Minsk
Minsk has accused neighboring countries that are in the EU of acting against migrants seeking a safe place to live.
Belarus border guard agency told state media that more than 2. 000 “refugees” had gathered in front of the Polish barriers.
They were heading to the EU “where they want to apply for protection” , according to the agency.
He accused Poland of use “unjustified” means to repel “persons seeking protection.”
On Monday, NATO said it is concerned about the “Escalation” on the border with Poland and that it is ready to “maintain security in the region.”
Meanwhile, in Lithuania , the government also mobilized its troops to the border with Belarus to prepare for a possible influx of migrants.
The government in Vilnius was considering declaring a state of emergency.
In response to Monday’s events, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on EU member states to impose new sanctions against the Belarusian government , which he accused of “putting people’s lives at risk.”
Meanwhile, the United States urged Lukashenko to “immediately stop his campaign of orchestration and coercion” of the illegal flow of migrants across his country’s border into Europe.
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