POlen wants to start construction of a permanent fortification on the EU’s outer border with Belarus on Tuesday.
“The work begins with drilling holes for the piles and setting them in the concrete,” a border guard spokesman told PAP news agency on Monday.
For months, thousands of migrants have been trying to move from Belarus to Poland or the Baltic states through the EU’s external borders.
Permanent barrier 5.5 m high
The European Union accused Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko of deporting people from troubled areas such as Iraq or Afghanistan to Minsk to smuggle them into the EU.
Poland’s border with Belarus is 418 km long, of which 186 km is underground. In late August, troops had already put up a temporary fence on these stretches of land to make it difficult for migrants to cross the border.
It is a barbed wire fence about 2.50 meters high. It is now to be replaced with a 5.5 meter high permanent barrier equipped with motion detectors and cameras. A budget equivalent to 366 million euros has been earmarked for the project.
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