Complete chaos is going on on the border between Poland and Belarus: water cannons, tear gas and stones

Riots erupted on the border between Poland and Belarus: Polish border guards shoot from a water cannon at migrants throwing stones, reports CNN.

Photo: Shutterstock

Violence erupted on the border between Poland and Belarus on November 16, when migrants, desperate to move to the European Union, pelted Polish border guards with stones, who responded with a water cannon and tear gas.

Belarus is accused of pushing migrants to the border to try to destabilize the EU, a charge it denies.

Polish and Belarusian authorities blame each other for escalating tensions on the border, where thousands of people are hoping to get into the EU, but are stuck in freezing weather.

The Polish Border Agency reports that migrants have made more than 5000 attempts this month to cross the border into Poland from Belarus, up from 88 in the entire last year. with the BBC.

Chaos reigns at the Bruzgi-Forge border crossing.

Crowds of migrants can be seen smashing concrete blocks and picking up tree branches to throw in the direction of Poland.

Loud bangs rang out over the crowd, and a thick cloud of smoke hung overhead.

Belarusian state media outlets BeITA reported that a yellow liquid was sprayed from water cannons used by Polish troops, causing burns, and that people were suffocating and ill from the smoke.

According to the Polish police, seven police officers were injured as a result of being hit by stones.
Polish police said the officer was seriously injured by an object thrown across the border and was in hospital with a suspected skull fracture.

The women and children who had camped in tents near the border fence just the day before stepped back, and the men, many of whom expressed their anger at being left hanging in dire conditions, took part in the most dramatic clashes ...

“We are fighting to stay alive,” one person said.

The Polish border service said on November 16 that migrants who camped near the Bruzgi-Kuznica checkpoint were "aggressive" by throwing stones and various objects at Polish services.

“To prevent illegal border crossings, water cannons were used against aggressive foreigners,” the security agency said on Twitter.

Poland's Defense Ministry tweeted footage of Polish officers and soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder with riot shields as stones are thrown over a barbed wire fence, describing the scene as a "migrant attack."

The ministry also accused the Belarusian services of equipping migrants with “flash-noise grenades”.
Polish security spokesman Stanislav Zharin tweeted the clashes on November 16, congratulating Polish forces on successfully repelling the "first wave of border attacks."

"We're going back to Iraq"

Representative of the State Border Committee of Belarus Anton Bychkovsky said that on November 16 the agency will begin an investigation into the “incident.”

It is unclear what triggered the November 16 confrontation, but there is growing frustration among migrants that Europe is not welcoming them.

Now they find themselves in what the United Nations has called "catastrophic": suffering from hunger and hypothermia, they pitched tents in temporary camps along the border.

For the past 48 hours, there have been rumors in the camps that the Polish government might open the border and allow a humanitarian corridor to Germany.

Poland vehemently denies this, and people flocking to the area received text messages from the Polish authorities saying the information was "complete lies and nonsense."

As night fell on Tuesday, Polish forces appeared to disperse crowds from the border checkpoint. Some of them returned to camp in the forest.

The Belarusian Border Agency reported that some migrants, including women, children and people with illnesses, were transferred to a support center, where they would receive shelter, food and medical care.

Officials also said a decision would be made to deport them back to their countries. Most of those gathered at the border are from the Middle East and Asia.

On the subject: A doctor from Uzbekistan in an American clinic treats children from Ukraine for free

One could see how families leave the scene of clashes with exhausted children in their arms, some are carried on their shoulders by their parents.

When asked where they were going, one person said, “Back to Iraq. Goodbye Belarus. "

Lukashenka endangers the lives of migrants

The crisis has forced the EU to prepare new sanctions against Belarus, which it blames for fueling the crisis on the bloc's eastern border, and, together with the US, will strengthen them after the border crisis.

President Alexander Lukashenko's government has repeatedly denied such allegations, instead accusing the West of mistreating migrants.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on November 16 that the military alliance "is deeply concerned about how the Lukashenka regime is using vulnerable migrants as a hybrid tactic against other countries, and this effectively endangers the lives of migrants."

He spoke before a meeting with EU defense ministers on November 16, a day after Moscow had warned that NATO would support Ukraine against "potential aggressive actions" amid a large concentration of Russian troops near Ukraine's borders. Ukraine is not a member of NATO or the EU.

The hostilities continue to test the fragile political order in the region and heighten concerns about the possibility of a broader geopolitical crisis.

On November 15, Lukashenko spoke on the phone with Angela Merkel from Germany. This was his first call since the suppression of post-election protests.

He said at a government meeting that "we cannot allow this so-called problem to lead to a violent confrontation."

Lukashenko and Merkel agreed on further contacts to resolve the situation.

You may be interested in: top New York news, stories of our immigrants, and helpful tips about life in the Big Apple - read it all on ForumDaily New York.

On November 16, Lukashenko spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the situation on the border with Belarus a few days after the two countries demonstrated their military might near Poland in joint parachute exercises.

The leaders also discussed the situation in Ukraine and the US exercises near the Russian borders and in the Black Sea, Lukashenka’s office said.

Russia, Belarus’s largest political and economic partner, continues to defend Minsk’s actions to resolve the border crisis, but denies any involvement in it.

On Monday, the EU stepped up pressure on all parties involved in fueling the border crisis. The bloc's foreign minister, Josep Borrell, announced at a press conference in Brussels that EU foreign ministers have agreed to impose new sanctions on "people, airlines, travel agencies and everyone involved in this illegal migrant onslaught on our borders."

A complete list of people and organizations will be "confirmed in the coming days," he added. This will be the fifth round of sanctions imposed by the EU on Belarus after the controversial presidential elections and the crackdown on dissidents.

Iraq said it will repatriate its citizens starting with a 200-person flight on Thursday. But many migrants say they are determined to stay and enter the EU.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• The migrant crisis on the border between Poland and Belarus is getting worse: several people died from hypothermia.

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