State of emergency likely as border crossings at crisis point

Poland is set to declare a state of emergency along parts of its border with Belarus after Belarusian authorities allowed thousands of migrants to cross over in an apparent attempt to ‘‘destabilise’’ the EU nation.

The Polish government asked president Andrzej Duda to bring in special measures in almost 200 eastern municipalities, including a prohibition on mass public events, for 30 days.

It is the first time since the fall of communism in 1989 that Polish authorities have moved to call a state of emergency, preferring not to do so even during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Justifying the state of emergency, Mariusz Kaminski, the interior minister, said that in August alone 3000 people had attempted to illegally enter Poland. Most of the immigrants arrive from the Middle East or Africa via Belarus.

The country, along with the three Baltic States, has accused Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president, of masterminding the crisis to punish Poland for offering a safe haven for Belarusian dissidents and e´ migre´ s.

‘‘We must stop these aggressive hybrid actions, which are carried out according to a script written in Minsk,’’ said Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister, yesterday.

‘‘The situation on the border with Belarus is in crisis, it is tense, and this is because the Lukashenko regime decided to transport people mainly from Iraq to Belarus and to push these people into the territory of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia in order to introduce a destabilising element into our countries,’’ he continued.

The plight of around 30 migrants, trapped on the border for almost three weeks, unable to enter Poland or return to Belarus, is now dominating headlines in Poland. So far the EU, which has a fraught relationship with Poland’s socially conservative government, has backed Warsaw’s border policy, agreeing that a strong line needs to be taken against Belarus. –