Belarus Border Crisis Boils Over

Polish border guards have fought off an attack by hundreds of migrants at the frontier with Belarus with water cannon and flash grenades this morning, in the latest escalation of tensions on the EU’s eastern front.

The Warsaw authorities issued orders to douse a group who were throwing stones, smoke bombs and pieces of metal fence at their soldiers despite the near-freezing conditions, MailOnline can reveal.

One police officer was rushed to hospital with a suspected fractured skull after being hit in the face.

Around 4,000 desperate refugees, most from the Middle East and North Africa, have gathered at the Polish border after being ferried to the frontier by forces loyal to Belarusian tyrant Alexander Lukashenko.

At least 11 migrants have died on both sides since the influx started in the summer. One of them, a 19-year-old Syrian from the war-torn city of Homs, was laid to rest on Monday.

Lukashenko’s men appeared to be forcing the migrants through gaps in the fence in video which emerged today, while other footage showed a Belarusian soldier cutting a hole in the barbed wire.

A fleet of specialist water cannon vehicles has been drafted to the border crossing between Kuznica and Bruzgi where thousands of migrants have gathered since last week in the hopes of reaching the EU.

Newly released footage shows Polish police firing a water cannon across the border fence at the migrants on the Belarus side border.

A spokesman for the Polish Border Guard told MailOnline: ‘Migrants at the border crossing at Bruzgi on the Belarusian side have been attacking the Polish border service for about an house.

‘Water cannons were used against these aggressive foreigners.

‘The migrants were throwing stones and objects that emit smoke at the Polish Border Service.

‘A loud bang was heard and a log of wood was thrown through the barbed wire fence by aggressive foreigners.’

The spokesman added: ‘Immigrants camped at the border crossing in Bruzgi have been behaving aggressively, throwing stones and various objects at the Polish Border Guard.

‘In order to prevent illegal border crossing, water cannons were used against the aggressive foreigners.’

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the use of tear gas and water cannon by Polish forces ‘absolutely unacceptable’.

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Polish border guards estimate up to 4,000 migrants are now camped out along the border between Poland and Belarus in increasingly dire conditions and freezing temperatures.

Western powers accuse Belarus of orchestrating the crisis, possibly with the backing of Russia, by luring migrants to the border to sow division in the EU – though Minsk and Moscow deny the claims.

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