On Monday, Polish Interior Minister Marjus Kaminski called for a 60-day extension of the state of emergency on the border with Belarus.
On September 2, Poland declared a state of emergency on Poland’s border with Belarus for 30 days, including a ban on journalists and charities working in the border area.
“I will advise the government to extend the state of emergency on the Polish-Belarusian border,” Kaminski said at a news conference.
Within the framework of the expanded hybrid attack by the regime of the Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, efforts have been made in recent months to send thousands of illegal immigrants to Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, most of whom have arrived in Belarus as tourists from Iraq.
Both Poland and the European Union (EU) have accused the Minsk regime of trying to avenge support for the Belarusian opposition and sanctions against Belarus in response to last year’s violent crackdown on protests.
The minister also warned that dozens of migrants detained by the Polish authorities were showing signs of radicalism, including links to the Taliban and the Islamic State terrorist organization. He said several migrants had lived in Russia.
According to the Polish Ministry of the Interior, 8,200 people have been banned from crossing the border with Belarus and 1,200 migrants who have crossed the border have been detained.
NGOs have warned that a colder weather is creating a humanitarian crisis and that migrants need medical care. Organizations have also criticized Poland for forcing migrants to return by refusing to seek asylum in Poland.
Six migrants have died on the Polish-Belarusian border in the last two months.
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