Belarus: Polish border guards stop 16 people with tear gas

Enlarge image

Barbed wire on the border between Belarus and Poland:

Photo:

Viktor Tolochko / imago images / SNA

According to information from Poland's border guards, a group of migrants who had been stuck on the Polish-Belarusian border for many weeks tried to break through the border barrier.

In the vicinity of the village of Usnarz Gorny, six people lifted tree trunks onto the barbed wire barricade, the authority announced on Twitter on Wednesday and posted a video.

The migrants also threw stones at border guards and soldiers, it said.

Some were armed with axes and tongs.

The border guards used tear gas to stop the migrants.

Sixteen of them finally entered Polish territory by force, but were pushed back to the other side of the border.

The government in Warsaw has accused the Belarusian ruler, Alexander Lukashenko, of bringing migrants from crisis regions to the EU's external border in an organized manner.

Lukashenko announced at the end of May that Minsk would no longer prevent migrants from continuing to travel to the EU - in response to tightened Western sanctions against the former Soviet republic.

The fate of this group of migrants, who have been camping on the Belarusian side of the border in a forest near Usnarz Gorny since August, had deeply moved the Polish public.

The information provided by the border guards cannot be independently verified, as Poland has declared a state of emergency in the border region.

Journalists and helpers are not allowed in.

ime / dpa