President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that in the morning there were 1,790 people in the refugee camp on the Belarusian-Polish border, and Poland tried to force 322 more people into Belarus.
“As of this morning, there were 1,790 people in the camp and 322 from the Polish side, whom the Poles tried to push into Belarusian territory at night,” the website of the President of Belarus informs.
The President emphasized that “it did not work out” to oust these people.
“They don’t want to go from there. And now 322 people are sitting there on this border. It’s okay, they will sort it out there. But these 1790 people, who are mainly in the camp in the Bruzgi area, need to bring firewood for them”, he added.
On Monday, the State Border Committee of Belarus reported that a large group of refugees, mostly Kurds, headed towards the border of Belarus with Poland. More than 2 thousand refugees, including a significant number of women and children, stopped in front of the Polish barriers on the border line, they set up a spontaneous camp. The Polish security forces do not let them through, the migrants made attempts to overcome the barriers.
Recently, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland reported an increase in the number of detained illegal migrants on the border with Belarus, accusing Minsk of creating a migration crisis. Minsk rejects all charges. In connection with the situation, the President of Poland introduced a state of emergency on the territories bordering with Belarus, the army and the police were involved in protecting the border. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko noted that Minsk will no longer restrain the flow of illegal migrants to the EU countries: because of the West’s sanctions, there is “neither money, nor effort.” The border guards of Belarus have repeatedly stated about the forcible expulsion of migrants by Lithuania, Poland and Latvia to the Belarusian territory.