Europe
2021.08.18 23:52 GMT+8

Lithuania releases video of migrant incident on border with Belarus

Updated 2021.08.18 23:52 GMT+8
CGTN

 

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service has released new video said to show migrants trying to illegally enter the European Union territory along the green border with Belarus.

They were under the watchful eye of Belarus border guards dressed in full riot gear.

At one point, the video shows the Belarus authorities apparently standing in Lithuanian territory, a move that has angered Lithuania.

 

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Lithuania, a member of the European Union, accuses Belarus of deliberately flying in Iraqi migrants to Minsk and then ferrying them over the border to claim asylum as retaliation for sanctions imposed by the EU on the former Soviet republic.

Lithuania says a total of 4,124 people have crossed into its territory illegally so far this year, mostly in July, though only 14 entered between August 5 and 16, as Lithuania began pushing back the migrants entering from Belarus.

In the video a Lithuanian border guard is heard saying to another, "Let the woman through, but not men," before a scuffle as the migrants try to get past the border guards.

The video then shows the Belarusian officers standing several meters closer, having crossed a ditch, which the Lithuanian border guards said marks the border.

"The officers left the territory after several minutes, after being told repeatedly by Lithuanian border guards they had violated the border," said border guard service spokesperson Rokas Pukinskas.

Lithuania will increase its border patrols in response to the incident, the interior ministry said in a separate statement on Tuesday.

Belarus's border committee earlier released video of the incident filmed from its side, which does not show the officers in riot gear.

"The Lithuanian border guards use physical force to push migrants into Belarus," it said, adding that the group had included a pregnant woman.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has said his country will no longer stop the flow of migrants into the EU due to the sanctions imposed over his crackdown on protesters and over the arrest of a dissident journalist after a Ryanair plane was forced to land in Minsk.

Earlier on Tuesday, Lithuanian border guard chief Rustamas Liubajevas said the situation on the border with Belarus remained tense.

About a dozen migrants from Belarus were prevented from entering Lithuania both on Saturday and on Sunday and about 50 migrants were turned back on the border on Monday, the service said.

"From time to time we hear shooting on the Belarus side. Many times, Belarus border guards are blocking the way of migrants back to Belarus," said Liubajevas. "They are actively pushing irregular migrants to the Lithuanian side." 

Source(s): AP
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