Starting next week, Poland will prohibit citizens from accessing a 200-meter strip along the border with Belarus after another serious incident, the Polish Prime Minister said on Wednesday.
Donald Tusk’s statement was made at the Dubice Cerkiewne barracks in Podlaskie Voivodeship (east), where he went today together with Defense Ministers Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak after a Polish soldier was stabbed. A suspected migrant came through the border fence Tuesday.
Tusk specified that the increase in the military contingent stationed on the border, currently amounting to about 5,500 soldiers, will be strengthened by the deployment of two more platoons next week, and assured that from now on joint operations of soldiers, police and border guards will be strengthened. .
The Polish prime minister referred to the existence of “organized operations to break through the Polish border, destabilize the country and the whole of Europe” with the mass departure from Belarus of people who, according to Tusk, “are neither migrants nor asylum seekers.” .
Stressing that the number of attempts to illegally cross the border from Belarus has increased in recent weeks, reaching “300-400 per day”, Tusk stressed that there will be “not the slightest tolerance” for the incidents. for example, aggression against Polish security forces.
“Soldiers have every right, if not obligation, to use all available methods” to defend themselves, the prime minister said, resolving that the military “has a sense of legal security and the full support of all Poles when they defend themselves.” not only the border, but also their lives.”
“There is no place for negotiations, the Polish border must be protected,” Tusk concluded.
Warsaw accuses Belarus and Russia of orchestrating a “hybrid war” against its border with a massive influx of people, mainly from the Middle East, at the end of 2021 after Minsk relaxed its visa policy.
Numerous international human rights organizations have condemned more than 6,000 “hot returns” by Polish authorities over the past year in the area, where more than 60 deaths of migrants, including children, have occurred, according to the Helsinki Foundation. , due to cold, hunger or disease from 2021.
According to Poland’s Border Guard, violent incidents at the border have increased in recent weeks, and earlier this month it was reported that an “aggressive group of 140 people” had pelted Polish patrols with sticks and stones.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.