Sunday November 14, 2021
Iraqis arrested
Refugees break through the border to Poland
The situation on the Polish-Belarusian border is getting worse every day. During the night, refugees attack the border fortifications. Poland is now sending SMS to suppress rumors. Participation by NATO is also no longer ruled out.
According to the Polish police, a group of around 50 migrants broke the barrier on the border with Belarus and got to Poland. The incident occurred on Saturday evening near the village of Dubicze Cerkiewne, said a police spokesman. The officers initially arrested 22 Iraqis. All other migrants were arrested shortly afterwards by border guards and soldiers, said a spokeswoman for the border guard. The entire group had been brought back to the border in Belarus.
According to the police, another large group tried to cross the border not far from the village of Kolonia Klukowicze – but to no avail. The refugees threw stones at the officers, and one officer was slightly injured. The police also arrested four suspected smugglers in the border region who were traveling with refugees. According to the information, these are two Georgians, a Polish and a Syrian.
“Lies and mischief”
In total, there were 223 attempts to illegally cross the border on Saturday, the Polish border guard announced. The information cannot be independently verified as Poland has declared a state of emergency in the border region. Journalists and helpers are not allowed in. This also applies to the border area on the Belarusian side.
Poland warns migrants on the border with Belarus via SMS not to believe rumors about an allegedly imminent transit to Germany. The message circulated among migrants that buses from Germany would pick up the refugees on November 15 and that Poland had given their consent to transit, it said in the short message. “That is a lie and nonsense! Poland will continue to protect its border with Belarus.” The SMS in English would be received by everyone whose cell phones were within range of Polish cell phones in the border area, wrote Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski on Twitter.
The short message contains one Link to the website of his ministrywhere this message can be found in five languages. On Tuesday, German activists in Poland failed in their attempt to bring migrants from the border operation to Germany. The bus from the Seebrücke Deutschland and LeaveNoOneBehind initiatives was stopped by the Polish police a few kilometers before the Kuznica border crossing.
Poland is considering joining NATO
Poland is also considering calling on NATO for help because of migrant pressure on its borders. The military alliance must take concrete steps to end the crisis on the border with Belarus, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told the PAP news agency. “We are discussing with Latvia, especially with Lithuania, whether we should invoke Article 4 of the NATO treaty.”
Under this article, NATO consultations may be requested if a member declares that its territory or independence is threatened. Article 4 is not to be confused with Article 5. The latter regulates that an attack against a NATO state is regarded as an attack against all. It also provides that the NATO countries provide mutual assistance.
Putin offers “help”
Meanwhile, just before the adoption of new EU sanctions against Belarus, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to mediate on the migration crisis. “We are ready to help with all means, if it should be up to us,” he said in a TV interview according to a report by the RIA news agency. In the French newspaper “Le Journal du Dimanche”, the EU foreign affairs representative Josep Borrell confirmed that the EU foreign ministers would decide on sanctions against Belarus this Monday. This lays the foundation that everyone involved in the people smuggling can be punished with punitive measures.
Thousands of migrants from crisis areas in the Middle East and Africa have traveled to Belarus to get into the EU from there. You are now stuck on the border with Poland and Lithuania in freezing temperatures. The EU accuses the Belarusian government, which is backed by Russia, of orchestrating the crisis in order to put pressure on the international community because of the sanctions that have already been adopted against the country. This rejects the allegations. Several states in the region warn that the dispute could degenerate into a military conflict.