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Migrants rescued from swamp on Polish-Belarus border as numbers rise

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The Polish Border Guard saved 10 people from a swamp at the border with Belarus on Tuesday (8 November). This is in response to Warsaw's warning that a new migrant crises could erupt at its borders.

A surge in migration from Africa and the Middle East via Belarus in 2021 created a humanitarian crisis. Poland and the European Union claimed that it was intentionally created by Minsk to destabilize the bloc. Belarus repeatedly denied that it allowed people to cross the border and refused to allow them to fly in.

Security concerns are rising because of the war in Ukraine. Warsaw reports that it has observed an increase in migrant activity at the Belarus border. Officials from Poland suspect Minsk may be again involved.

Poland also began building a razor-wire fence along its border with Kaliningrad because it fears that the Russian exclave could become an illegal migration route.

"Today, Border Guard officers in cooperation with other service, saved 10 foreigners in an extremely difficult operation," said the Border Guard in a statement.

"In all, eight Sri Lankan citizens and a Pakistani citizen were saved."

In recent weeks, the Border Guard reported that 100 attempted illegal crossings from Belarus were being reported daily. This is significantly higher than summer levels.

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Poland has constructed a wall along the Belarus border. It is currently installing sensors and cameras.

Anna Michalska, a spokeswoman for the Border Guard, stated that she believes more migrants are trying to enter Poland prior to the electronic system being fully implemented. This makes crossings of the border difficult.

She said that the Belarusian services and people associated with the regime of (Belarusian president Alexander) Lukashenko are aware of this and want to recruit as many foreigners as possible for this trip.

Grupa Granica, a non-governmental organization that assists migrants, stated Anna Alboth that the group had seen more attempts to cross the border in the last four weeks and received more than 1,800 calls since the completion of the wall.

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