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Belarus border: Poland rages after Merkel's phone call with Lukashenko

2021-11-18T05:21:26.532Z


On the Belarusian-Polish border, thousands of refugees hope to get through to EU territory. Poland's police are tough. The news ticker.


On the Belarusian-Polish border, thousands of refugees hope to get through to EU territory.

Poland's police are tough.

The news ticker.

  • Belarus crisis: According to the Polish government and the EU, the regime of ruler Alexander Lukashenko is targeting migrants to the border with Poland.

  • Water cannons are used in a clash between migrants and police.

    Belarus is apparently taking people out of the border region by bus

    (see first report on November 17, 1:16 p.m.).

  • Poland's President Duda criticizes Merkel's phone call with Lukashenko

    (see update from November 17, 3:29 p.m.).

  • This news ticker is continuously updated.

Update from November 17, 3:29 p.m.:

Chancellor Angela Merkel tried to mediate in the border dispute between Belarus and Poland.

That is why the CDU politician phoned the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko.

According to government spokesman Steffen Seibert, Merkel's phone call with the EU Commission had been agreed.

"She made this phone call in close coordination with the European Commission and, after informing important partners in advance, also in the region," said Seibert on Wednesday (November 17th) in Berlin.

On the same day, critical tones came from the Polish side.

President Andrzej Duda stressed that his country would not accept any agreements if they were made without his participation.

He had made this clear the day before in a telephone conversation with Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

"In short: Poland will not recognize any agreements that (..) are concluded over our heads."

International mediation attempts were the subject of the conversation with Steinmeier, Duda said.

Poland sees Chancellor Merkel's attempt to contact Lukashenko with unease.

"We are a sovereign country that has the right to decide for itself," commented Duda on the process: "And we will exercise this right under all circumstances."

Belarus border: Poland sees the situation calm for the time being - migrants spend the night in a warehouse

First report from November 17, 1:16 p.m .:

Warsaw / Minsk - The tense situation on the border between Belarus and Poland has apparently calmed down a bit.

While clashes between the Polish police and migrants broke out on Tuesday (November 16) at the Kuznica-Brusgi crossing, the situation eased overnight, according to the Polish police.

After the riots, some of the migrants returned to Belarusian territory in the former tent camp


.

In addition, a police spokesman said on Wednesday (November 17) that another part was able to stay overnight at the Belarusian border clearance terminal.

On Wednesday morning, the Belarusian state agency

Belta published

photos showing numerous adults and children with blankets and sleeping bags in a hall.

On Tuesday (November 16), ruler Alexander Lukashenko ordered that several storage facilities of a logistics company in the Grodno region near the border be converted into overnight camps.

+

Numerous migrants stayed overnight in a Belarusian warehouse on the border with Poland.

© Ulf Mauder / dpa

Belarus-Poland: Polish secret service accuses Belarusian side of "coordinated attack"

In the clashes on Tuesday (November 16), Polish security forces also used water cannons against migrants, according to reports from Poland and Belarus.

Stanislaw Zaryn, spokesman for the coordinator of the Polish secret services, suspected a “coordinated attack against the Polish border” was behind the action.

Accordingly, the migrants had pelted the police officers and soldiers with stones, bottles and clods of earth.

The people were also armed with pop grenades and slingshots.

Poland is convinced that Belarusian security forces coordinated and observed the approximately two-hour attack.

An independent examination of this representation is currently not possible because Poland


does not allow

media access to the

border region.

Meanwhile, thousands of migrants remained on the Belarusian side in makeshift camps - despite temperatures around freezing point.

They tried to protect themselves against the cold with campfires.

Belarus: Lukashenko has migrants taken away from the border by bus

On Tuesday (November 17), however, the Polish government also announced that Belarus had started to evacuate the migrants. As a result, many of the migrants staying at the closed Kuznica-Brusgi border crossing were taken to another location by bus. "I got the information that Lukashenko has provided the first buses that the migrants get on and drive away," said Poland's Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Wasik on

TV Republika

: "The camp near Kuznica is emptying. It looks like Lukashenko lost this battle for the border. "



Videos of four coaches were broadcast in the Belarusian state media.

According to the Red Cross, they bring some of the migrants "to other places".

The aim is to prevent the new night camp from being overcrowded.

The Polish border guards assume that around 2000 migrants have gathered near Kuznica.

(kh / dpa) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA

List of rubric lists: © Ulf Mauder / dpa

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-11-18

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