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Refugee camp in the village of Verebiejai in Lithuania
Photo: Mindaugas Kulbis / AP
In Lithuania, the parliament has passed several legislative changes in view of the sharp increase in the number of illegal entries.
The new regulations can speed up the asylum examination process and restrict the free movement of migrants who have illegally crossed the border and their other rights.
Among other things, migrants may be arrested for more than six months after their illegal entry.
The rights of objection are also restricted for rejected asylum seekers.
The changes adopted on Tuesday were criticized in part by human rights organizations.
However, the government in Vilnius considers it necessary to get the tense situation on the border with Belarus under control.
The cabinet had previously declared a state of emergency in order to be able to react more easily and quickly.
The Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko has repeatedly threatened the EU to allow refugees from war zones to pass in response to the sanctions imposed on Minsk. Lithuania, which has an almost 680 kilometer long border with Belarus, is particularly hard hit. According to official information, more than 1,700 people have already been arrested - 56 of them within 24 hours, as the border guard announced on Tuesday. Most of them have already applied for asylum in Lithuania.
Parliament also passed a resolution on Tuesday calling the influx of illegal migrants from Belarus crossing the border as "hybrid aggression".
Accordingly, the organized migratory flows aimed to destabilize the situation in Lithuania.
The government should therefore strengthen the protection of the state border as soon as possible, the statement said.
Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte spoke of a "special challenge".
In view of the upcoming major Russian-Belarusian maneuver "Sapad", illegal migration must be taken particularly seriously and viewed as a threat to national security, she said.
Russia plans to hold the military exercise with Belarus near the Lithuanian border in September.
kim / dpa / Reuters