'Coordinated Attempt': 1000s of Migrants Try To Enter Poland From Belarus

Belarus has been accused of weaponising migration in an act of revenge against the EU for imposing sanctions.

Migrants, mostly from middle-eastern countries, are being pushed back from the Polish border.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@GezizeB)

Thousands of migrants tried to flee Belarus to Poland on Monday, 8 November, BBC reported.

They used cutters to try and pass through wire fences while some even tried to climb over trees in an Eastern European border crisis that has been on the verge of escalation for many months now.

Videos shared by media sources in Belarus showed how people tried to use poles or branches to jump over fences.

Poland’s interior ministry stated that the situation was under control.

The defence ministry also posted a video of a Polish office spraying migrants trying to cross a fence.

Additionally, it released images and videos that showed the migrants pitching tents and cooking meals on the border.

“A coordinated attempt to massively enter the territory of the Republic of Poland by migrants used by Belarus for the hybrid attacks against Poland has just begun,” as stated by a spokesperson of Poland’s security forces.

Stanislaw Zaryn, the spokesperson, also insisted that the “large groups of migrants... are fully controlled by the Belarusian security services and army.”

Accusation against Belarus about using refugees as a form of economic warfare isn't new.

Around three weeks ago, the European Union (EU) accused Belarus of acting vindictively in response to sanctions by offering tourist visas to migrants, thereby helping them leave Belarus and enter the EU countries.

One group was tracked to be attempting to enter Germany, BBC reported.

Germany hasn't failed to notice this. Angela Merkel’s spokesperson said on Monday, 8 November, that "the Belarusian regime is acting as a human trafficker," AP reported.

Similarly, Zaryn accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of trying to cause instability inside Poland and other EU nations so that the sanctions that were imposed on Belarus due to its crackdown on pro-democracy protests were uplifted.

If President Lukashenko, by allegedly weaponising migration, was indeed hoping for a reversal of sanctions, then his strategy has backfired.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has asked the 27 nations of the EU to approve further extended sanctions on those "responsible for this hybrid attack".

Even the United States has asked Belarus to stop this campaign. The crisis, however, may not have even reached its peak.

(With inputs from AP and BBC.)