Sprawling Tent City On EU Border Amid Freezing Temperatures In Belarus-Poland Migrant Showdown

After Monday’s major confrontation between thousands of mostly Middle Eastern migrants who sought to breach Poland’s border from Belarus, a makeshift tent city has emerged at the EU entry point as the standoff continues, and as temperatures plunge. 

“Hundreds of migrants shivered in freezing temperatures and huddled round campfires on the Belarusian border with Poland on Tuesday in front of razor wire fences and lines of Polish border guards blocking their entry into the European Union,” Reuters describes of the intensifying situation. Encampments can be seen a mere meters from the barbed-wire separation fence outside Kuznica village, with a heavy Polish police and military presence on the other side. 

Funkcjonariusze @PolskaPolicja na granicy. Czuwamy. pic.twitter.com/9kYlk61oax

— podlaska Policja (@podlaskaPolicja) November 9, 2021

Polish authorities are continuing to warn of an “armed confrontation” potentially coming, given they’ve charged Belarus with intentionally orchestrating a violent showdown on the border as retaliation for Western anti-Lukashenko sanctions. 

On the ground video which circulated widely on social media this week has appeared to show Belarusian security services behind the migrants. They haven’t disbanded the group on their side of the border, but seem to be goading them into confrontation with the Polish guards.

Polish Ministry of Defense published footage from the helicopter of a migrant tent camp at the Poland-Belarus border. pic.twitter.com/Bcyz0frZ3k

— Status-6 (@Archer83Able) November 8, 2021

The migrants have been reportedly shouting chants of “Germany! Germany!” – indicating their intent to make it to the Western European country known for its ample social benefits given to migrants and refugees.

#NaStrazyGranic na ziemi i z powietrzna @PolskaPolicja @podlaskaPolicja pic.twitter.com/DMDBkn458V

— podlaska Policja (@podlaskaPolicja) November 9, 2021

After clashes which involved attempts to tear down the wire fencing on Monday, The Associated Press reported the overnight situation as follows: 

Polish authorities reported that the situation on the border was calm overnight and earlier Tuesday, but authorities said they were bracing for any possibility. Poland’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that a large group of Belarusian forces was moving toward the migrant camp.

European Union headquarters is laying blame squarely on Minsk, saying Lukashenko is engaged in a form of “hybrid attack” using migrants as a weapon, with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen urging more sanctions on Belarus for the escalation.

This is what hybrid warfare initiated by Belarus looks like: what appears to be plain clothes Belarus border guards cutting concertina wire to allow migrants into Poland and the EU. It’s caused huge anxiety in the region. Extraordinary footage! #BelarusBorder pic.twitter.com/ooqFMvYeLm

— Michael Bociurkiw (@WorldAffairsPro) November 9, 2021

Lithuania and Latvia have also beefed up military presence at their borders with Russia-backed Belarus, with the former country overnight declaring a border emergency for one month. 

Russia’s Putin and Alexander Lukashenko are said to be in talks over the EU border situation…

#UPDATE Russian President Vladimir Putin and his ally, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, have discussed a migrant stand-off on the border between Poland and Belarus that the EU accuses Minsk of orchestrating, the Kremlin said pic.twitter.com/n6cEMUrkXF

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) November 9, 2021

Meanwhile Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak made a Tuesday morning visit to the border where in the name of the EU he proclaimed the “effective defense of our border” to a group of police and guards. “We do not know what else Lukashenko’s regime will come up with — this is the reality,” he said.