Poland reports fewer attempts to cross its border with Belarus

The number of migrants attempting to get from Belarus to Poland by force fell again on Friday after Minsk apparently changed course that could help calm the crisis that has escalated into a major east-west confrontation Has.

The Polish Border Guard said on Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) that 195 attempts were made to cross the border on Friday, up from 250 on Thursday and 501 the previous day, despite Warsaw warning that the migrant crisis is far from over.

Europe accuses Belarus of flying in thousands of people from the Middle East and forcing them to cross over to the EU. Belarus has been in a dispute with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko since a controversial election last year.

Belarus, which denies fueling the crisis, evacuated a migrant camp near the border on Thursday and began repatriating some people to Iraq, but Poland said Friday that Minsk is still trucking hundreds of migrants to the border .

"Yesterday ... there were several attempts to violently cross the border. The largest group consisted of about 200 foreigners, the others of several dozen people. The foreigners were aggressive - they threw stones, fireworks and used tear gas," said the Border Guard on Saturday on Twitter.

Polish police said that when they tried to cross on Friday near the village of Starzyna, Belarusian soldiers threw stones at Polish border guards, police officers and soldiers, damaging police vehicles.

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

Right-wing groups have criticized the nationalist Polish government for the treatment of migrants. They accuse them of having been pushed back several times and not having received any medical help or adequate food and accommodation.

According to local authorities, around 10 migrants died in the forests along the border when the freezing winter set in and many more suffered injuries or were without food or water for days.

Poland has declared a state of emergency near the border and does not allow journalists or non-governmental organizations to work in the area. It says its uniformed services provide adequate care for migrants making it to Poland when they need to.

Hundreds of Poles took part in two separate protests in Warsaw and the town of Hajnowka near the Belarusian border on Saturday to express their support for the migrants and to seek help for them.

"We are here to take a firm stand, because we don't want anyone in our country to die in the forest, for someone to starve in the forest and for someone to be detained in the forest," said Adrianna Klimaszewska, a social activist from Wroclaw took part in the "Mothers on the Border" demonstration in Hajnowka.

"We demand this from our country. We demand access for medical professionals to the border area, we demand access for humanitarian organizations."

GO TO POLAND

Despite the decline in attempts to cross the border, Polish officials said they expected further tensions.

"No, this political crisis is not over yet. Belarus is still interested in escalating and continuing operations against Poland," wrote Stanislaw Zaryn, spokesman for the Polish security services, on Twitter.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki will visit Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia on Sunday to discuss the crisis, a government spokesman said on Saturday.

Migrants in a so-called "safe place" operated by locals on the Polish side of the border told Reuters that the Belarusian security forces kept pushing them to cross the border even after the camp was closed. One of them managed to do this on Thursday evening.

"We came through the woods and they (the Belarusian security forces) said to us every day, 'Go to Poland', but we couldn't cross the border so they tried to cross us by force," said a Syrian migrant.

"It was very exhausting, cold, with no food, no water, no warmth or anything. I'm looking for a peaceful country, I just want to live," he added.