The Polish border force says the number of migrants trying to enter the country irregularly via Belarus is on the rise again – despite a 5.5-meter border wall.
Polish border guards are reporting an increase in the number of attempted irregular border crossings from Belarus in recent weeks.
A spokeswoman for the authority attributed the rise to the warmer weather, news agency dpa reported on Tuesday (May 23).
On Monday alone, over 130 people tried to cross the EU’s eastern border, Poland’s border guard Straż Graniczna said on Twitter. Most of them came from Eritrea, Bangladesh, India and Ethiopia. Five Ukrainians and one Moldovan were arrested as suspected smugglers, it said.
W dn.22.05 dopróbowało nielegalnie przedostać się z133 os.m. in.ob.Erytrei,Bangladeszu,Indii i Etiopii,w tym 20 os. na widok patrolizawróciło na#PSGPłaska 5 ob.Kamerunu przeprawiło się przez #Wołkuszanka
Za pomocnictwo zatrzymano 6 os.-5 ob.Ukrainy i ob. Mołdawii
1/2 pic.twitter.com/VzlZwWUqap— Straż Graniczna (@Straz_Graniczna) May 23, 2023
Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Wasik called the increase in arrivals a “planned action” that is “apparently even controlled by the Belarusian services.”
Read more: Deaths mount at Polish border as authorities defend migrant expulsions
Border wall
The uptick in arrivals takes place in spite of a 186-kilometer long, 5.5-meter high wall and an electronic surveillance system Poland built last year along its nearly 400-kilometer long border with Belarus in response to a surge in undocumented border crossings in 2021.
At the time, EU leaders accused Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko of deliberately orchestrating the border crossings by bringing migrants from war-torn countries to the EU’s external border.
Thousands of people tried to enter Poland, Latvia and Lithuania in summer and fall that year. The Polish government as well as those of Lithuania and Latvia responded by declaring a state of emergency.
The number of irregular arrivals from Belarus is dwarfed by the influx of people fleeing Ukraine: Since Russia launched its full-scale, Lukashenko-supported invasion of Ukraine on February 24 last year, 12 million people have crossed the Polish border, according to Straż Graniczna.
Read more: Lithuania mulls suing Belarus over 2021 migrant border crisis
with dpa
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