Polish border migrant crisis: bill to allow use of arms sparks rights concerns

26/7/2024 16:39

        Polish lawmakers were set to vote on Friday on a bill making it easier for security services to use weapons against migrants on the Belarus border, legislation that has public support but that critics say infringes human rights.
        
        The debate pits Donald Tusk's pro-European Union government against activists who had hoped he would shun the previous, nationalist administration's approach to the crisis on the bloc's eastern frontier.
        
        Poland has been dealing with what it says is a form of hybrid warfare on the border since 2021, when large numbers of migrants started trying to cross illegally.
        
        Both Warsaw and the EU say Belarus and its ally Russia have been orchestrating the crisis by flying in migrants from the Middle East and Africa, something Minsk and Moscow deny. The situation took a tragic turn in June when a 21-year-old Polish soldier died after being stabbed through the border fence, provoking a wave of grief and anger.