Poland will build a fence, doubling the number of troops on the border with Belarus

USNARZ GORNY, Poland, August 23 (Reuters) – Poland will build a fence along its border with Belarus and double the number of troops there, Defense Minister said on Monday, to stop a flow of migrants according to the Union European Union that is being pushed by Minsk in retaliation for EU sanctions.

Poland and other EU states, Lithuania and Latvia, have reported sharp increases in migrants from countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan trying to cross their borders. The EU says Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is waging a “hybrid war” with immigrants to put pressure on the bloc.

Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said a new 2.5-meter-high solid fence would be built on the border with Belarus.

At a press conference at the border, Blaszczak also said he would increase the military presence there.

“We need to increase the number of soldiers … We will soon double the number of soldiers to 2,000,” he said.

The Polish government has received strong criticism from human rights defenders over the situation of a group of migrants trapped for two weeks in the open air between Polish and Belarusian border guards near the village of Usnarz Gorny.

Poland says allowing migrants to enter Polish territory would encourage illegal migration and would also play into Lukashenko’s hands. “These are not refugees, but economic migrants introduced by the Belarusian government,” Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz told reporters.

INHUMAN

Some lawyers and NGOs accuse Warsaw of inhumanely treating stranded migrants by blocking their entry.

The Ombudsman said the Border Guard had violated the Geneva Convention by not accepting verbal statements from some of the migrants who wanted to seek international protection in Poland.

“People were asking for protection from the border guards and the border guards were pushing them back,” said Piotr Bystrianin of the Ocalenie Foundation, which helps refugees.

“That means they were in touch and that should give them a chance to ask for protection … It’s very simple.”

Mahdieh Gholami, a translator who helps the Ocalenie Foundation, said Polish troops were hampering their efforts to communicate with migrants on the other side of the border.

“When I start saying something, the soldiers start engines,” he said.

The Polish border guard and the army did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Lithuania said on Monday that it would complete a 508 km (315-mile) fence along the border with Belarus in September next year. Read more

Reports by Kacper Pempel, Alan Charlish, Alicja Ptak and Pawel Florkiewicz; edited by Mark Heinrich and Mark Porter

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