(Warsaw) The body of a young Syrian was found near the Belarusian-Polish border, Polish police said on Saturday.
“The body of a young man of Syrian nationality was discovered yesterday [vendredi], in the woods, near Wolka Terechowska ”, one can read in a press release from the police of the Podlasie region (eastern Poland).
According to this text, “the causes of death could not be determined on the spot”.
The death would bring the death toll from the migration crisis on the border between the EU and Belarus to 11, according to media estimates.
In addition, the police reported a new attempt at night to forcefully cross the border by “a hundred people”, in the same region of Wolka Terechowska.
“At the sight of police and soldiers, people on the Belarusian side fled into the forest,” police said.
At the same time, Polish border guards spoke of the involvement of Belarusian forces in the destruction of barbed wire.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE POLISH ARMED FORCES VIA REUTERS
Barbed wire has been installed by Poland on its border with Belarus to block migrants.
“At night, Belarusian soldiers tried to destroy the temporary border fence. They were removing poles and tearing the concertina apart using a service vehicle. The Polish forces were dazzled with laser beams and strobe effects, ”according to a message from border guards on Twitter.
The border police also accused the Belarusian forces of having “equipped foreigners with tear gas”.
Thousands of migrants, mostly from Africa and the Middle East, have crossed or attempted to cross the border from Belarus in recent months into Lithuania, Poland or Latvia.
The European Union accuses Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of having deliberately provoked this migratory movement in response to the economic sanctions it has taken against the repression against the opposition in his country.
Migrants have reported being forced by Belarusian forces to cross the border but have been turned back by Polish border guards, remaining stranded at the border in increasingly difficult weather conditions.
The Polish authorities are banning journalists and charities from entering the area immediately adjacent to the border, under the rules of the state of emergency they have declared there.