The situation on Poland's external borders is tense.
Now a group of migrants has tried to break through border fences.
Belarus is to blame for the situation, criticizes Germany as well.
Usnarz Gorny - More and more migrants are arriving at the Polish-Belarusian border.
Poland wants to refuse them to travel to the EU and has therefore built a border fence.
A group that had been stuck near the village of Usnarz Gorny for many weeks has now tried to break through the barrier, according to Poland's border guards.
Six people had hoisted tree trunks on the barbed wire barn near the village of Usnarz Gorny, the authority announced on Twitter on Wednesday and posted a video.
Poland's border guards: migrant group tries to break through the border
The refugees 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 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.
Poland sees the blame for the tense situation with Belarus and its ruler Alexander Lukashenko.
Dziś cudzoziemcy koczujący po str.białoruskiej na wysokości m. Usnarz Górny siłowo forsowali granicę.Osoby rzuciły kłody drzewa na zabezpieczenia graniczne.Rzucali kamien🇧🇾w
Pošn OjijObUdBm pic.twitter.com/5BXLs99Atj
- Straż Graniczna (@Straz_Graniczna) October 20, 2021
Migration: Lukashenko as a trigger - Council of Europe criticizes pushbacks
The government in Warsaw accuses Lukashenko of bringing refugees from crisis regions to the EU's external border in an organized manner. At the end of May, Lukashenko announced in response to stricter Western sanctions against his country that Minsk would no longer prevent migrants from continuing to travel to the EU. Since then, reports of attempted irregular border crossings at the EU's external borders with Belarus and at the German-Polish border have increased. An increase in the number of refugees can also be observed in Lithuania and Latvia.
The Council of Europe has meanwhile called for an end to the pushbacks of migrants that have been shown to be practiced at several borders in European countries. They are understood to mean the rejection of migrants from the borders. Pushbacks are illegal within the meaning of the European Convention on Human Rights and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. According to these, asylum seekers must be given the opportunity to apply for asylum. At the moment, "violations of the human rights of refugees" are increasingly observed, complained the human rights commissioner of the Strasbourg country organization, Dunja Mijatovic. It relates in particular to Croatia and Greece, but also makes Poland responsible. The Polish parliament recently voted in favor of legalizing pushbacks - and erected the border fence that should now be stormed.
Migration: German-Polish border remains open - CDU / CSU parliamentary group calls for sanctions
The federal government wants to support Poland in the meantime, but makes it clear that the German-Polish border will remain open. Politicians in this country are also unanimous about what triggered the current situation. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer criticized Lukashenko for his course: "In Belarus and through Belarus there is state-organized or at least supported smuggling activity," he said on Wednesday (October 20) at a press conference. The CSU politician recognized a "form of hybrid threat in which migrants are used as a political weapon". Seehofer emphasized that the German government is of the opinion that ultimately “the key to solving the problem lies in Moscow”. Russia is a close ally of Belarus, which is economically heavily dependent on Moscow.
The CDU / CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag wants to increase the pressure on Lukashenko.
“The increasing illegal migration from Belarus via Poland to Germany is worrying.
That is why it remains important that we do not leave Poland alone with this challenge, ”explains deputy parliamentary group leader Katja Leikert in a press release.
The Polish authorities had to be assured of "even more personal and logistical support from Frontex and the other member states".
Leikert also calls for “sanctions with extra-territorial effect”;
for companies that cooperate with the Belarusian airline Belavia.
(as / dpa)