WARSAW, November 8. /TASS/. A group of migrants who attempted to illegally enter Poland from Belarus has set up a camp near the border, the Polish Ministry of National Defense reported on Monday on its Twitter.
"The Interior Ministry services and soldiers have managed to foil the first mass attempt to cross the border. Now, the migrants have set up a camp in the area of Kuznica. Belarusian services have been constantly monitoring them," the defense ministry said.
In the small hours of Monday, the message was released in Polish media and social networks that a group of several thousand migrants was moving across Belarus toward its border with Poland. The Polish authorities informed that they have beefed up border security, where, in addition to border guards, military and police officers are now serving. Two battalions of the Territorial Defense Troops (a National Guard-type military branch largely made up of part-time volunteer soldiers — TASS) have been put on alert.
In the afternoon, the first attempts to cross the Polish-Belarusian border were made by illegal migrants. The Polish border guards uploaded video footage to their Twitter showing a large group of migrants trying to destroy a barbed wire fence with the use of long logs and wire cutters, along with police with shields in helmets and vests, border guards and military countering their attempts on the Polish side of the border. The footage demonstrates that Polish law enforcement agencies used gas. All attempts to cross the Polish border have been foiled so far.
Since the beginning of 2021, over 30,000 migrants have tried to cross the Polish-Belarusian border. Warsaw declared a state of emergency in the regions bordering Belarus and has been systematically beefing up the number of servicemen stationed there (currently it is at 12,000). At the same time, the Polish authorities have been building a barbed-wire fence on the border and later plans are in store to transform it into a more fortified barrier measuring 5 meters in height, equipped with sensors and other equipment.