Belarus’s leader has threatened to cut off gas supplies to Europe if sanctions are imposed over an escalating migrant crisis at the country’s border.
Thousands of people are at the border with Poland, enduring freezing conditions in the hope of crossing into the European Union.
EU officials have accused Belarus of provoking the crisis to undermine its security, an allegation it denies.
In retaliation, the EU is reportedly planning a fresh package of sanctions.
If the dramatic images of hundreds of migrants massed together on the Polish border, facing off against a wall of Polish soldiers and border guards, don’t already underline that the Merkel era is over, Germany’s response surely should. The line among Germany’s political class now seems to be that 2015 was the right thing to do, and must never be repeated…
The European Commission has accused Belarus’s authoritarian leader of luring migrants with the false promise of easy entry to the EU as part of an “inhuman, gangster-style approach”.
At least 2,000 migrants are now at the Belarus border with Poland.
“Upon arrival they are being pushed to the border and forced to make an illegal entry into the European Union,” said Commission spokesman Peter Stano.
Belarus’s leader Alexander Lukashenko denies orchestrating the problem.
Video clips have shown hundreds of migrants walking towards the Polish border near Kuznica village and some trying to breach a fence using spades and other tools 3/6 pic.twitter.com/9ZClFBeGCm
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 9, 2021
KYIV, Nov 8 (Reuters) – Polish authorities accused Belarus of trying to spark a major confrontation on Monday and said they had mobilised additional soldiers as footage on social media showed hundreds of migrants walking towards the Polish border.
In one video, shared by the Belarusian blogging service NEXTA, migrants carrying rucksacks and wearing winter clothing were seen walking on the side of a highway.
Other videos showed large groups of migrants sitting by the road and being escorted by armed men dressed in khaki.
Grupa migrantów znajduje się obecnie w okolicach Kuźnicy pic.twitter.com/w5VxXp9QqQ
— Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej 🇵🇱 (@MON_GOV_PL) November 8, 2021
Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal has ruled that Polish law takes precedence over European Union law. The landmark ruling, which seeks to reassert national sovereignty over certain judicial matters, has called into question the legitimacy of the EU’s supranational legal and political order.
The power struggle has angered European federalists, who are seeking to turn the 27-member EU into a European superstate — a United States of Europe — and who do not take kindly to those who challenge their authority.
The EU, which Poland joined in 2004, has vowed to retaliate, including with potential financial penalties. Poland, which threw off the yoke of Soviet domination in 1989, replied that EU institutions are unlawfully overstepping their powers.
Two Polish soldiers have been taken to hospital after asylum seekers staged an assault on the frontier with Belarus, throwing stones at the border fence. The group of migrants has been stuck in no man’s land for over two months.
According to the Polish Border Guard, the “attempts of violent crossing into Poland were thwarted.”
“Over the weekend, two attempts at a border assault were recorded. Aggressive groups of about 60 and 70 people threw stones and branches at border guard officers and soldiers of the Polish army. Two soldiers were hospitalized,” a statement said.
Polish lawmaker Sebastian Kaleta said it was “disturbing” that “Christian or patriotic content” was increasingly being branded as “hate speech” by the Big Tech firms which dominate social media, and that the public discourse should not be controlled by “anonymous moderators”.
