secure border with Belarus
Poland builds 140km long fence
06/12/2022, 2:33 pm
A year ago, thousands of people tried to illegally enter Poland from Belarus. Ruler Lukashenko is said to have deliberately smuggled refugees across the border to put pressure on the European Union. Poland is now completing a long piece of fence.
According to the border guard, Poland has so far secured its 140-km border with Belarus with a high fence. The authority announced that the installation of the electronic barrier would start in the coming days. A video posted on Twitter by the Border Patrol Service shows the SUV with a high fence made of metal elements, in front of which is patrolling a wide strip of sand. The Polish-Belarusian border is 418 km long, of which 186 km is overland, the rest through lakes and rivers.
The situation there escalated in late summer and autumn last year: thousands tried to enter the EU illegally. The European Union accused Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko of systematically bringing migrants from troubled regions to the EU’s outer border to pressure the West. With higher temperatures, there has recently been a resurgence in the number of illegal border crossing attempts. According to border guards, 14 people tried to go from Belarus to Poland on Saturday.
In late August, troops had already put up a temporary fence on land sections of the border. Since the end of January, it has been replaced by a 5.5 meter high fence equipped with motion detectors and cameras. A budget equivalent to 366 million euros has been earmarked for the project. Poland intends to complete work on the remaining sections by the end of June.
On July 1, the restrictions already in force on the three-kilometre stretch of the border are to be lifted. Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski had declared the area a no-go zone, with foreigners and aides not allowed inside. With the completion of the border fence, there is no longer a need for restrictions, the Interior Ministry announced recently.
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