Riot police at the Polish-Belarusian border fired high-pressure water cannons and tear gas at those who tried to forcibly enter the country. European Union.
The conflict occurred on the second day after EU governments approved sanctions against Belarusian leaders. Alexander Lukashenko, Allegedly orchestrated the crisis by allowing thousands of asylum-seekers from the Middle East to cross Belarus to the border with Poland.
Television footage from the border on Tuesday morning showed dozens of men throwing stones and approaching the fence near the border crossing in the Polish town of Kuznica.
Polish border guards responded by firing water cannons and tear gas at them. Russian state media also released a video showing the detonation of a stun grenade near the immigrants on the Belarusian side of the border.Poland claims that the stun grenades are made Belarus.
The Polish Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday that it had “repelled an attack on the border.” “Migrants launched attacks at the Kuźnica border crossing,” the Ministry of Defense wrote. “The immigrants are very aggressive. They throw stones at Polish officers and soldiers.”
Poland and Lithuania declared a state of emergency, giving the police new powers to expel immigrants completely and ignore asylum requests. NGOs complained that the Polish authorities refused to provide assistance to migrants in the border area, and journalists were prohibited from reporting near the border.
In contrast, the Belarusian state television broadcast a live broadcast of the border conflict that took place on Tuesday, and Lukashenko tried to blame European governments for the border crisis. The Belarusian army is accused of breaching border fences and forcing immigrants to make dangerous attempts to cross the border.
On Monday, hundreds of asylum-seekers, mainly from Iraq and Syria, were accompanied by the Belarusian border guards and moved from a temporary camp in the woods to the Kuznica border crossing.
They were allowed to pass through the Belarusian border checkpoint, but were denied entry into Poland.
Video footage from Monday night showed Polish and Belarusian soldiers in a tense standoff after attempting to break through the border fence. A woman who seemed to be trapped by barbed wire screamed in the camera because the voice outside the camera warned her not to move, otherwise she might hurt herself further.
On Monday night, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with Lukashenko on the phone about the “necessity of humanitarian assistance for refugees and migrants.” Russia has always sought to establish direct contacts between Lukashenko and European governments, many of which condemned his brutal suppression of the opposition.
On Tuesday, Germany announced the temporary suspension of certification procedures for Russia’s new Nordstream 2 pipeline. Although the process was officially suspended due to technical issues, at the same time, tensions between Russia and the West have risen sharply due to the immigration crisis and the build-up of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border.
