Migrants targeted by water guns and tear gas at border with Belarus

A Polish policeman has been seriously injured, presumably the victim of a skull fracture, in the clashes, announced Tuesday the police.

Le Monde with AFP

The situation marks an escalation in a stretched migration crisis. Some 2,000 migrants gathered at the Belarusian border border of Brouzgui were targeted Tuesday, November 16, water guns and tear gas, Warsaw accusing them of having “attacked” troops with stones.

A Polish policeman has been seriously injured, probably the victim of a skull fracture, in the clashes, announced the police. In the morning, the Polish Ministry of Defense has Tweeted :

“Kuznica: migrants attack our soldiers and officers with stones and try to destroy the fence to enter Poland. Our forces used tear gas to end the aggression of migrants.”

 Polish soldiers launch tear gas near Grodno, Belarus, November 16, 2021.

of the Polish soldiers launch tear gas near Grodno, Belarus, November 16, 2021. Leonid Shcheglov / AP

The ministry also stated that the Belarus forces had attempted to destroy fences along the common border of the two countries, while the Ministry of the Interior has published a video showing migrants seemingly trying to demolish a fencing. The Border Guard Agency has also published on Twitter a video showing a water barring on the other side of the border, towards a group of migrants.

ATTACK AT THE BORDER Crossing in # Kuźnica.
Migrants are Very Aggressive, Throwing Stones at Soldiers. https://t.co/d7gf7dnqrl

– Plpermrepeu (@poland in the eu)

behavior “unacceptable”

Moscow denounced Tuesday the appeal by Poland to water guns and tear gas to repel migrants. “The behavior of the Polish party is absolutely unacceptable,” said Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov. “They violate all legal standards,” he added.

 A Polish military sprayed tear gas near Grodno, Belarus, November 16 2021.
A Polish soldier spraying tear gas near Grodno, Belarus, November 16, 2021. Leonid Shcheglov / AP

The European Union accuses the Belarusian power to have orchestrated the current crisis to take revenge on Western sanctions decided in retaliation for unprecedented internal political repression.

The President Belarusse, Alexandre Lukashenko, while denouncing the European behavior and denying any responsibility in the crisis, assured Monday to work on the return of migrants, mostly from Iraq.

The Iraqi Embassy in Moscow, for its part, announced Tuesday that “about 200” of its nationals would be repatriated from Belarus Thursday, including women and children. Baghdad explained that such flights, on the basis of volunteering, would be organized from this week.

The state of emergency, imposed in early September in Poland, prevents journalists and human rights defenders from going to the border area. In Belarus, journalists are also confronted with severe restrictions on their ability to report, and only a few are present at the border.

/Media reports.