Thousands of migrants were massing near the Belarus border on Monday, Polish authorities said, as the European Union (EU) member states called for more sanctions against Minsk and security forces braced for more attempts to force through the frontier.
Warsaw has accused Belarus of trying to spark a major confrontation, with video clips showing hundreds of migrants walking towards the Polish border and some trying to breach the fence using spades and other tools.
"We expect that in the coming hours, attacks on our border will be renewed by groups of several hundred people," said Pawel Soloch, the head of Poland's National Security Bureau.
Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller said that there were currently 3,000 to 4,000 migrants near the border, and more than 10,000 others across Belarus ready to try and cross into Poland.
Warsaw said it had deployed additional soldiers, border guards and police, while neighboring Lithuania said it might introduce a state of emergency on its border with Belarus.
Migrants gather near a barbed wire fence in an attempt to cross the border with Poland in Grodno region, Belarus, November 8, 2021. /Reuters
Poland said it had withstood the first attempts on Monday by the migrants to force their way across the border.
The Polish Border Guard announced that as of 6 a.m. GMT on Tuesday, the crossing at Kuznica, near the site where migrants tried to force their way through, would be closed.
"We have three border crossings with Belarus," Poland's Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Wasik told private broadcaster Polsat News. "The closure of one of them can be treated as a kind of economic sanction."
He said there should be tougher EU sanctions against Minsk following the escalation of tensions on the border. The Baltic states Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have issued similar calls.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was calling for member states to approve extended sanctions against the Belarusian authorities.
The EU also wants to target airlines from third countries that help transport the migrants from the Middle East to Belarus.
Migrants sit around a fire near a barbed wire fence in an attempt to cross the border with Poland in Grodno region, Belarus, November 8, 2021. /Reuters
The government of Belarus has repeatedly denied manufacturing a migrant crisis, blaming the West for the crossings and treatment of migrants.
The Belarusian state border committee confirmed on Monday that many refugees were moving towards the Polish border, but said Warsaw was taking an "inhumane attitude."
Poland has stationed more than 12,000 troops at the border, its defense minister said, while sharing aerial footage of migrants clustered on the Belarusian side.
"They throw tree trunks on the fence so as to reduce the height of this fence to breach it," said Katarzyna Zdanowicz, spokeswoman for Polish border guards in the area.
The United Nations called the scenes at the border "deeply concerning."
(With input from Reuters)