Polish police at Belarus border ordered to carry guns amid “growing aggression” from migrants

Police officers serving on the border with Belarus have been ordered to carry firearms due to “growing aggression” from migrants. There have recently been several attacks on Polish officers and yesterday a soldier died after being stabbed while attempting to stop migrants from crossing.

Meanwhile, the government today announced that new rules on allowing soldiers to use weapons in self-defence at the border will be presented next week. The speaker of parliament has defended the right of soldiers to “shoot at thugs who attack them”.

On Tuesday, more than 250 police officers, mainly from the prevention units, were deployed for operations on the Polish-Belarusian border to work alongside soldiers and border guards, bringing the total number of police officers there to 370.

Previously, they usually did not carry weapons. However, today, Katarzyna Nowak, the spokeswoman for police headquarters, told news website Onet that this had now changed.

“In view of the escalation of the influx of migrants and the fact that dangerous incidents involving them are taking place at the border on a daily basis, even several per day, and in view of their growing aggression…the commanding officer has decided that officers are to carry firearms in their holsters,” said Nowak.

The news came a day after the death in hospital of a Polish soldier from wounds he suffered last week after being stabbed with a knife while trying to stop a group of migrants from forcing their way across the border.

The soldier, now named as Private Mateusz Sitek, died as a result of a stab wound to the chest, which damaged the left lung and caused injuries to the central nervous system, the district prosecutor’s office in Warsaw reported today, citing the results of an autopsy.

Following an emergency meeting on the situation with the defence and justice ministers, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that his government would next week propose changes to rules governing the use of weapons by soldiers at the border.

“The law must clearly support the Polish soldier when he uses weapons in self-defense, in defence of Polish territory or the border,” said Tusk. “He must have a sense of legal security.”

Meanwhile, the speaker of parliament, Szymon Hołownia, who is one of the leaders of Tusk’s ruling coalition, also expressed support for soldiers to be allowed clearer to use weapons in self-defence.

“Does a soldier have the right to shoot at a thug who is attacking him from the other side [of the border]? It is obvious that he does,” said Hołownia, quoted by the Polish Press Agency (PAP). “In fact, he should do it to defend himself, his colleagues, to defend us all.”

However, Hołownia added that there must be clear regulations on the use of weapons, in particular because Belarusia and Russia are specifically seeking to provoke Polish officers.

Earlier this week, controversy broke out after it emerged that two Polish soldiers have been charged with exceeding their powers and endangering the lives of others after firing warning shots towards a group of migrants seeking to cross the border.

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Main image credit: Podlaska Policja (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL)

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.