About 50 Migrants Broke Into Polish Territory From Belarus on Saturday, Polish Police Claim
08:48 GMT 14.11.2021 (Updated: 16:29 GMT 14.11.2021)
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - About 50 people stormed their way over to the Polish side of the border with Belarus a day earlier, with 22 of them detained, the police of the Podlaska voivodship said Sunday.
"Yesterday, before 5 pm [16:00 GMT], around 50 people broke into Poland near Starzyn. Twenty-one police officers, as well as soldiers and Border Guard officers, joined the search for migrants who crossed the border illegally. Police officers detained 22 Iraqi citizens," the police tweeted.
Wczoraj przed 17 w okolicach Starzyn, do Polski wdarło się siłowo około 50 osób. W poszukiwaniach migrantów nielegalnie przekraczających granicę udział wzięło 21 policjantów oraz żołnierze i funkcjonariusze SG. Policjanci zatrzymali 22 obywateli Iraku. pic.twitter.com/tm8TPJ8TpT
— podlaska Policja (@podlaskaPolicja) November 14, 2021
Poland has boosted security measures on the border as large groups of migrants have been gathering on the Belarusian-Polish border in the hope to cross over into the European Union territory.
#Belarus The Polish border service reported that yesterday there were two attempts to break through the border. According to the police,migrants threw stones at the police, damaging the police car. Yesterday,around 50 people broke into Poland, 22 of them were detained pic.twitter.com/4Ysbsv3qp2
— Hanna Liubakova (@HannaLiubakova) November 14, 2021
On Saturday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell discussed the situation on the Belarusian-Polish border with the foreign ministers of Poland and Lithuania and said that the issue will also be brought up at the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) next week.
Belarusian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Aleinik said on Saturday that Minsk does not see the European Union making any serious efforts to hold dialogue with Belarus to resolve the ongoing migrant crisis.
Poland, Lithuania and Latvia have been accusing Belarus of orchestrating a migrant crisis to get back at Brussels for sanctions against the government of President Alexander Lukashenko. The Belarusian leader has rejected the accusations, saying that his cash-strapped country can no longer afford tight border controls.
