Scale, violence in illegal crossings increase with migrants throwing projectiles, including Molotov cocktails, at border guards, says Polish authorities
Poland has seen more than 550 illegal border attempts from its neighbor Belarus in three days, prompting fear of a fresh migrant crisis, according to local media on Tuesday.
The Polish Border Guard Service said Monday that more than 550 illegal crossing attempts from Belarus were documented between Aug. 9-11 in the country’s eastern Podlaskie region, the Polish broadcaster TVP World reported.
According to officials, the scale and violence in these crossings have increased with migrants throwing projectiles, including Molotov cocktails, at border guards and troops.
Video footage released by the service shows several individuals climbing the 5-meter (16-foot) barrier before being stopped by patrols.
"Several times, there were aggressive actions from individuals on the other side of the technical barrier—migrants threw stones and branches at Polish patrols," the Polish Border Guard Service wrote in a post on X.
Warsaw accuses Belarus and its ally Russia of creating a border crisis to destabilize Poland and the EU, and suggests that since mid-2021, Belarus has been helping migrants from the Middle East and Africa make their way into Poland -- and so also into the EU -- via the forested and swampy areas of northeastern Poland.
In July 2024, the Polish parliament passed legislation removing criminal liability from uniformed personnel using firearms on Poland’s eastern border. This happened after two incidents on the border. In one, a soldier died in June 2024 after being stabbed by a migrant with a knife, and in the other, military police arrested two soldiers for firing warning shots at migrants.
