Hundreds of migrants camped overnight in the countryside in low temperatures and remain today near Belarus-Poland border, while the Polish prime minister visited the border and officials warned that tensions could rise in the coming days.
Poland accuses Belarus of trying to provoke a major confrontation by encouraging migrants to cross the border and cross into Polish territory and the European Union.
Videos from the area show hundreds of migrants marching towards the Polish border near the village of Kuznitsa and some trying to throw a fence using shovels and various other tools.
Pictures released today by Polish police show scenes of migrants and fires they have lit on the Belarusian side of the barbed wire.
According to the Polish border guard, quoted by Reuters, about 800 people have been camped on the Belarusian side of the fence by a group of up to 4,000 migrants who are there and in the surrounding forests.
A spokesman for Poland’s special services also said that estimates showed that up to 12,000 migrants could be in Belarus.
Polish authorities closed an official border crossing with Belarus at 08:00 Greek time today near the point from which thousands of migrants were trying to cross the border yesterday, Monday.
Poland has said it has deployed additional troops, border guards and police, while neighboring Lithuania has said it may declare a state of emergency on its border with Belarus.
Polish police said in a Twitter message today that the night was calm, although someone threw a stone at a patrol car after yesterday’s incidents.
A Polish official noted that tensions could rise in the coming days and that additional international assistance could be accepted if that happened.
Undersecretary of State Pavel Jablonski reiterated in statements to the private radio station Radio Zet that at the moment Poland does not need additional assistance from the EU border force, Frontex.
A meeting of EU ambassadors to the UN is expected to take place today to discuss the tension, PAP news agency reported, citing Poland’s ambassador to the UN.
Belarus’s state-run news agency Belta also quoted the country’s interior minister as saying no immigrants had broken the law.
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