WARSAW: Poland on Monday said hundreds of migrants in Belarus were descending on its border aiming to force their way into the EU member in what Nato slammed as a deliberate tactic by Minsk.

“A group of a few hundred people are heading for the Kuznica border crossing. One group has already tried to cross the border, but the border guards have arrested some of these people,” Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller told reporters in Warsaw.

Muller blamed “people linked to Belarusian special services” for organising the migrant breach. He added that a Polish government crisis unit was due to meet later on Monday.

Nato slammed as “unacceptable” Belarus’s alleged tactical use of migrants to put pressure on the EU, saying it was worried about “escalation” on the border with Poland.

The European Union accuses Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko of facilitating a wave of migrants and refugees, mainly from the Middle East, trying to enter the EU in retaliation for sanctions imposed by Brussels.

Minsk has reportedly issued special visas allowing migrants to fly into Belarus.

The sanctions were imposed after Belarus diverted a flight between EU capitals in May to arrest a dissident journalist and his girlfriend on board, and for a brutal crackdown on the opposition.

Lukashenko has denied the charges.

Poland has sent thousands of soldiers to the border area, enforced a state of emergency in the region complete with a media blackout, built a razor-wire fence and approved the construction of a wall.

Caught in the middle, migrants often report being forced to cross the border by Belarusian officials and then being pushed back into Belarusian territory by the Polish authorities. At least 10 migrants have died so far in the region, including seven on the Polish side of the border, according to the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2021