Polish security forces announced on Tuesday that they had used tear gas and deployed water cannons to push back migrants who threw stones while trying to cross the border from Belarus.
The day after a telephone interview with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Belarusian President Alexander Loukachenko assured earlier today that he wanted to prevent the migration crisis from degenerating into “confrontation” with his European neighbors.
Westerners accuse him of having orchestrated since the summer of migratory movements from the Middle East to the eastern borders of the European Union (EU), which he denies.
At least 11 migrants have died on both sides of the border since the summer, according to charity groups. One of them, Ahmad al-Hassane, a 19-year-old Syrian from Homs, was buried near the border on the Polish side on Monday.
Some 4,000 migrants in total are currently camping, according to Polish border guards, in the cold and deteriorating conditions every day, along the border between Poland and Belarus.
A face-to-face meeting began last week near the crossing point between the Belarusian villages of Bruzgi and the Polish villages of Kuznica, where several hundred migrants, often from the Middle East, gathered.
“Migrants attacked our soldiers and officers with stones and are trying to destroy the fence and cross into Poland,” the Polish Defense Ministry tweeted on Tuesday. In Kuznica, “our forces used tear gas to quell the aggression against the migrants.”
“Unacceptable”
Polish police reported a seriously injured policeman, presumably the victim of a fractured skull, “as a result of an attack by people pushed by the Belarusian side”.
“The behavior of the Polish side is absolutely unacceptable,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. “They violate all legal standards.”
The EU accuses Minsk of organizing the influx of thousands of migrants to the borders of Poland and Lithuania in revenge for the sanctions imposed after the relentless crackdown on the opposition since 2020.
Brussels and Washington announced on Monday that they wanted to expand these punitive measures in the coming days.
Paris denounced Tuesday an “inhuman and macabre staging” at the Polish border, using “thousands of migrants in distress”, in order to “fracture Europe and scare Europeans”.
“The main thing today is to defend our country, our people and avoid clashes,” Lukashenko said Tuesday morning, quoted by the state press agency Belta. “This problem must not turn into a fiery confrontation.”
His meeting the day before with Merkel marked a success for the Belarusian leader to whom the West had refused to speak since his criticized re-election in August 2020.
“Divergent” views
In power since 1994, he said he agreed with Merkel that the crisis should be defused.
“We were of the same opinion that no one needs escalation – neither the EU nor Belarus,” he said.
But he added that views were “divergent” on how the migrants arrived in Belarus and once again denied that his country favored their arrival.
Iraq announced a repatriation flight scheduled for Thursday for at least 200 of its nationals stranded at the border with Belarus, including women and children.
On Monday, Belarusian airline Belavia said Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans and Yemenis were now banned from flying from Dubai to Belarus. Turkey imposed the same restrictions last week.
On the ground, many migrants, who have often gone into debt to pay for the trip, say they are determined to stay, despite limited access to food and basic necessities.
The Belarusian Red Cross said it delivered three tons of aid on Tuesday.