The Polish government asked the president on Tuesday, August 31, to declare a state of emergency on the border with Belarus, fearing a massive flow of migrants and an upcoming Russian military exercise.
Read also The UN calls on Poland to accept migrants stranded at the border with Belarus
Thousands of migrants, mostly from the Middle East, have crossed the Belarusian-European border in recent months, with the EU suspecting some form of retaliation from the Minsk regime against European sanctions.
Limit access to the border to the media and NGOs
"
The Council of Ministers decided today to ask the president to establish a state of emergency for 30 days
" in 183 towns and villages along the border, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters.
"
We must prevent the aggressive hybrid operations that follow the script written in Minsk and among the protectors (of Belarusian President Alexander) Lukashenko,
" he declared.
During a state of emergency, demonstrations of all kinds are prohibited on the territory concerned. Anyone there must be provided with an identity document and the carrying of weapons is prohibited, according to the government statement. Analysts say the introduction of a state of emergency would also allow the government to limit access to the border to media and NGOs helping refugees and accusing Polish law enforcement
agencies
of migrants
'
pushbacks.
to Belarus.
President Andrzej Duda said Tuesday afternoon that he was analyzing "
in detail
" the government's request, adding that he would take the decision very soon.
"
We have no doubt that in view of the current situation it is necessary to strengthen our border
", he told reporters, "
We will do everything to guarantee the security of Poland
".
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3000 attempts to cross illegally in August
After being signed by the president, the request to introduce a state of emergency must be approved by Parliament where the conservatives have only an unstable majority of a few deputies.
The Interior Ministry reported around 3,000 attempts to cross its border with Belarus illegally in August. According to Minister Mariusz Kaminski, the Minsk regime has, in the space of a few weeks, brought in about 10,000 Iraqis to lead them on the border with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. Mariusz Kaminski spoke of potential “
migrant reservoirs
” in Turkey, Lebanon and Russia. In addition, he warned of the "
possibly incredibly tense
"
situation
at the border during the next Russian military exercise Zapad-2021, which is to engage some 200,000 troops on Russian and Belarusian territories, including "
a dozen thousand Russian soldiers near the (Polish) border, in Brest
”.
Read alsoFour EU members call on the UN to act against the influx of migrants from Belarus
In Poland, the migration crisis denounced by the nationalist-conservative government has above all the face of thirty migrants, probably Afghans, stranded in a makeshift camp between Belarus and Poland, which refuses to let them enter its territory. while NGOs, volunteers and members of the opposition are helping them. The government remains intransigent, even after appeals from the UN Office for Refugees, the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki recently proclaimed the need to protect “
sacred Polish territory
”.
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