Live Updates: Refugee Crisis at Border With Belarus Novel Type of War, Polish Prime Minister Says
09.11.2021 21:51
Live Updates: Refugee Crisis at Border With Belarus Novel Type of War, Polish Prime Minister Says
Polish forces have used tear gas against refugees and have deployed military hardware near the refugee camp; shots were heard in the area, the Belarusian Border Committee said on Tuesday.
It also believes that the closure of the Kuznica checkpoint on the Polish side could have been caused by Warsaw's attempt to conceal the use of weapons against the refugees.
Meanwhile, the spokeswoman for the border committee in Poland’s Podlaskie region, Katarzyna Zdanovich, said that Polish border guards periodically hear shots on the Belarusian side. She also claimed that Belarus was building up military forces on the border amid the migration crisis.
"We are monitoring the situation from the air. We are observing soldiers there. There are more and more of them," spokeswoman Katarzyna Zdanowicz told reporters.
On Monday, the Belarusian State Border Committee reported that a large group of refugees from Asia and Africa were heading to the border with Poland. The ministry said that the situation with refugees on the border with Poland remained extremely tense. More than 2,000 refugees, including a significant number of women and children, have stopped in front of the Polish barriers on the border line. Polish security forces have refused to let them through, and migrants have been making attempts to overcome the barriers since then.