German police have halted the activities of around 50 vigilantes along the country’s border with Poland who were armed with weapons and searching for illegal immigrants.
The members of the group are believed to have been inspired by a call to patrol the border made by the far-right party Der Dritte Weg (The Third Way) and were said to be armed with various weapons, including pepper spray, a machete, and batons.
Police found the largest group of 30 vigilantes around the border village of Gross Gastrose near Guben, where Germany and Poland are separated by the River Neisse. According to a report from broadcaster Deutsche Welle, several locals in Guben held a vigil over the weekend to protest the presence of the vigilantes.
The police took action by seizing the vigilantes’ weapons and barred them from the border area. The members of the group are said to be a mix of locals and others who came from as far away as Bavaria.
Germany has seen a wave of illegal aliens from Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia crossing from Poland, having first entered the European Union via Belarus, in recent weeks, with an estimated 4,500 crossings taking place since August.
Last week, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer proposed that German and Polish authorities could jointly patrol the border for illegals who first cross into Poland from Belarus and then make their way to Germany.
Germany Looks to Enact Border Controls with Poland Due to Migrant Surge https://t.co/BpJOm5G6eE
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 19, 2021
Prior to the proposal, German Federal Police Union Chairman Heiko Teggatz had written a letter to Seehofer advocating for the introduction of border controls with Poland in order to stem the flow of illegals, despite both countries being part of the EU’s frontierless Schengen Area.
“Our colleagues are also exposed to a considerable health risk, as SARS-Cov-2 [Covid-19] infections, especially in the migrants’ countries of origin (Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Afghanistan, etc.), are still very high and are very rarely detected by the authorities,” Mr Teggatz said.
Poland has also increased the number of officials guarding its border with Belarus in recent days, with Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak stating last week that at least 6,000 personnel would be tasked with guarding the frontier, which has been under a state of emergency since last month.
On Monday, Polish authorities reported that two Polish soldiers were injured after a group of around 60 migrants forced their way across the border with Belarus, using branches to destroy and bypass barriers and using rocks and branches to attack Polish officials.
Poland Passes Law to Turn Away Migrants at Border and Build a Wall https://t.co/uX6HZPPaPN
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 16, 2021
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.