Poland remains under sustained attack from the Belarus side of its eastern border, with a group of at least 200 migrants making an attempt to storm the nation Wednesday night, according to Polish border guards as tensions continue to build.
Polish border guards stated that the group of 200 or so migrants made an attempt to storm the border on the evening of November 24th near the village of Czeremcha, just over an hour drive from the Belarusian city of Brest.
Border Guard spokeswoman Anna Michalska commented on the incident, telling news agency Reuters, “They were trying to break through the border, attacking the border,” and added, “They were throwing branches and stones and the attempt was stopped by our officers.”
On Thursday, Polish broadcaster Radio Kielce reported that within the last day alone, Polish board guards had reported at least three attempts by migrants to attack and storm the border, some of them using stones to attack officials as well as laser in an attempt to blind them.
Spokeswoman Michalska stated that the migrants were being actively helped by Belarusian authorities saying that Belarus had attempted to hide their support for the migrants but were now helping cut security fencing and were providing tools to migrants as well.
Mariusz Ciarka, the spokesman for the Chief of Polish Police added, “Border guards are supported by numerous police officers. Practically every day in Podlasie they stop couriers, transporting people who illegally got into Poland.” He stated that since August, 300 people have been detained.
The incident comes just a week after Polish border guards arrested a group of a hundred migrants attempting to cross the border illegally. Some estimate that as many as 4,000 migrants are camped along the border in the hope of reaching Poland and the European Union.
The situation along the border, which has been labelled “hybrid warfare” by Poland and others who accuse Belarus of orchestrating the crisis, is not expected to end any time soon.
Polish government official Stanisław Żaryn spoke earlier this week on the issue and said that the Belarusian strategy was to exhaust Polish border guards and troops.
“We are entering the conflict phase when each day starts to look alike. We are still dealing with repeated attacks by groups of foreigners supported by the Belarusian services. We can see that this conflict is starting to be a conflict estimated to last for a long time,” he said.
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