Illegal Migrants From Belarus Started Attacking Lithuanian Border Guards
- 3.07.2021, 11:20
Tear gas was used in response.
On the border with Belarus, officers of the Lithuanian Border Guard Service detained 116 illegal migrants on July 2, 111 of them were in the Druskininkai municipality. The Lithuanian military had to use weapons and tear gas, telegraf.by reports.
The Lithuanian border service said that there was a case of resistance when officers used tear gas and weapons for warning shots.
Over the past two days, Druskininkai border guards detained 179 foreigners who illegally crossed the border from Belarus.
The officers of the Tverečius detachment detained 4 illegal migrants, of which, according to preliminary data, there are 3 Pakistanis and one citizen of India in the Švenčionys region. In Varėna district, border guards of Aleksandras Barauskas's firewall detained a man who introduced himself as a citizen of Gambia.
The remaining 111 illegal migrants were detained by the border guards of the Druskininkai firewall on 2 July. According to preliminary data, this group includes citizens of different countries, their identities have been established.
On the way from Belarus to the Druskininkai municipality, most migrants gather at the Raigard International Checkpoint and walk through the Raigard Valley.
During one detention, according to preliminary data, 8 migrants behaved aggressively, tried to attack the patrols of the Druskininkai firewall, and resisted them. As a result, tear gas was used, two warning shots were fired into the air, and the unruly men were laid on the ground and handcuffed.
The Druskininkai section has a modern border control system. Previously, illegal migrants trying to enter Lithuania from Belarus avoided such territories controlled by stationary technical means.
At a meeting on Friday, the Lithuanian government declared a state of emergency in connection with a sharp increase in illegal migration to the country.
This year, 938 illegal migrants from Belarus tried to enter the territory of Lithuania. This figure is almost 12 times higher than it was during 2020. Last year, 81 such foreigners were detained at the Lithuanian border. In 2019, 46 illegal migrants were detained by border guards; in 2018 - 104, in 2017 - 72.
Most of those detained at the border with Belarus this year are Iraqi citizens or foreigners who introduced themselves as such. Most of the detainees seek to enter Western European countries via Lithuania.
In connection with a sharp increase in the number of such cases, the State Border Committee has recently strengthened the security of the border with Belarus. In addition to various organizational activities, officials from other units have been seconded to this site, and additional technical resources have been allocated.
In addition, the border guards were assisted by the forces of the Public Security Service, the Union of Riflemen, and other institutions, as well as employees of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency FRONTEX, who began work on the border with Belarus.
"We see a system, a politically motivated system"
The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called the influx of migrants to Lithuania across the border with Belarus "politically motivated," reports Reuters.
“Here we really see a system, a politically motivated system. The European Commission and the European Union are on your side during these difficult times,” von der Leyen in Vilnius said at a joint press conference with the President and Prime Minister of Lithuania.