SOKOLKA, Poland — Polish forces fired tear gas and water cannon on
Tuesday at stone-throwing migrants trying to cross the Belarusian border,
sparking accusations from
Belarus that EU and NATO member Poland was trying to
escalate the crisis.
اضافة اعلان
Polish border guards, who are deployed along with the army and police,
estimate up to 4,000 migrants are currently camped out on the frontier between
Poland and Belarus in increasingly dire conditions and freezing temperatures.
Western powers accuse Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko of orchestrating
the crisis, possibly with Russia's backing, by luring migrants to the border to
sow division in the European Union — claims denied by Minsk and Moscow.
A standoff near the Bruzgi-Kuznica border crossing on the EU's eastern
frontier began last week when hundreds of migrants gathered there.
"Migrants attacked our soldiers and officers with rocks and are trying
to destroy the fence and cross into Poland," Poland's defense ministry
said on Tuesday, tweeting a video showing apparent clashes at the
border.
"Our forces used tear gas to quell the migrants' aggression."
A police officer, a border guard and a soldier were injured in the clashes,
Polish officials said, with police saying stun grenades and tear gas canisters
had also been thrown at officers.
The Defense Ministry said 15,000 troops have been deployed. There were an
estimated several hundred border guards and police officers.
'Stop the
suffering'
Belarusian foreign ministry spokesman Anataoly Glaz accused Poland of
exacerbating the problem.'
"We see today from the Polish side direct provocations and inhumane
treatment of the disadvantaged," he said.
Russia also condemned Poland's use of tear gas and water cannon against the
migrants, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov calling it "absolutely
unacceptable".
Visiting areas near the border on the Polish side, the Council of Europe
human rights commissioner Dunja Mijatovic on Tuesday said the situation was
"extremely dangerous".
"We need to find a way to de-escalate, to make sure the focus is really
to stop the suffering," she told reporters, also calling for aid groups
and the media to be given "full access".
'Nobody needs
escalation'
Lukashenko, who has crushed opposition to his rule over nearly three decades
in power, said on Tuesday that he wanted to avoid a "heated
confrontation" at the border.
"The main thing now is to protect our country and our people, and not
to allow clashes," he told a government meeting, according to state news
agency Belta.
The Belarusian leader discussed the crisis with Germany's Angela Merkel on
Monday, his first phone call with a Western leader since he suppressed mass
protests against his rule last year.
Merkel's office said the pair discussed bringing humanitarian aid to the
migrants, whose number includes many young children.
Lukashenko said he and Merkel agreed the standoff should be defused.
"We were of the united opinion that nobody needs escalation — not the
EU, or Belarus," he said.
But he said he had "differing" views with Merkel on how the
migrants got to Belarus, with the West saying Minsk had brought them there as
revenge for sanctions.
EU foreign ministers on Monday agreed that existing sanctions targeting
Lukashenko's regime will be expanded to include individuals or companies found
to have encouraged border crossings.
The US has also vowed to expand its sanctions on Belarus.
The transatlantic military alliance NATO has also slammed Belarus and backed
ally Poland.
Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who lives in exile in
Lithuania, welcomed the sanctions saying Lukashenko had "crossed all the
red lines already".
Repatriation flight
Iraq has said it will start voluntary repatriations of its citizens from
Belarus this week.
The Iraqi embassy in Moscow said it would fly out around 200 people in a
flight on Thursday.
But many migrants — including those AFP has spoken to — have vowed not to go
back.
The EU meanwhile has been asking for the flights to Belarus to stop.
Turkish Airlines has now banned Iraqis, Syrians, and Yemenis from flying to
Belarus via Turkey and private Syrian carrier Cham Wings Airlines has said it will
halt flights to Minsk.
Belarus's state-run airline Belavia has also said that Syrians, Iraqis,
Yemenis, and Afghans are banned from incoming flights from the United Arab
Emirates at Dubai's request.
At least 11 migrants have died on both sides since the influx started in the
summer, according to aid groups.
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