WARSAW, November 9. /TASS/. Poland bolstered the forces protecting the border with Belarus to 20,000 troops from the military, police and border guard services, according to a Twitter post by Blazej Pobozy, Poland’s deputy interior minister.
"In the situation when we are seeing intensified movements in the border zone, we are sending to that place expanded detachments of troops from the border guards and the police and soldiers. Their number as of now totals about 20,000,’’ he said.
On Monday, a few thousand migrants approached the Polish border. Some of them attempted to tear down the barbed-wire fence, while the Polish forces used tear gas.
A Polish border guard spokeswoman earlier said that about 800 migrants are staying in a makeshift camp near the border crossing post of Kuznitsa. Another 3,000 to 4,000 people are staying in the forested areas along the entire length of the Polish-Belarusian border, she said. With the larger pressure near Kuznitsa, the border guards also need to keep track of the other stretches of the border, she said.
Polish authorities estimate that a total of 12,000-14,000 illegal migrants may be staying in Belarus. According to Warsaw, the Belarusian government intentionally brings them to the country to move them to the border afterward.