German police prevent armed militias from chasing immigrants across Polish border

German agents arrested the men after a search of the area around the scene Guben to Neisse dam, a strip of about fifty kilometers along the Polish border. The police found, among other things, pepper spray, batons, a bayonet and a machete. The men had settled in the area overnight from Saturday to Sunday, after the far-right organization Der Dritte Weg called on its supporters to stop the illegal migrants with their own hands.

The largest group, of around 30 men, was arrested before midnight in a border village. Overnight, German police elsewhere in the region picked up small groups of suspected right-wing extremists from the streets. Most of the men are from the region, the rest are from other German states. They were banished from the region of Guben, a town of about 16,000 inhabitants. Anyone with weapons will be prosecuted.

Around 25 people held an anti-racism vigil in Guben town center on Saturday evening. “We do not want to let the region fall into the hands of the neo-Nazis,” the organization said. “We want it to be clear that asylum is and remains a human right.” The mayor of the city called on the population not to take justice into their own hands.

Belarus

Tensions in the border area have been mounting for weeks, due to the growing number of migrants trying to reach Germany via Poland. In October alone, German police arrested more than 1,800 refugees in the region.

This increase is a direct result of the policies of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who, angry with the European Union, called on refugees to enter the EU through his country. Migrants from countries such as Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan can catch a visa-free plane to Minsk, and from there travel seamlessly to the Polish border. Many of them hope to reach Germany via Poland.

Lukashenko

Lukashenko started this policy in May this year, after the European Union imposed heavy sanctions against Belarus. These sanctions followed the violent crackdown by Lukashenko’s security forces of protests against his regime, following allegedly fraudulent elections. Lukashenko has been called the last dictator of Europe.

Poland has now started to build a fence on the border with Belarus. In an interview with the boulevard newspaper picture German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said such protection of the EU’s external borders was “legitimate”. Germany itself has sent 800 additional police officers to the border area with Poland. The two countries are conducting joint patrols there.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday that the EU would not fund metal walls or fences. “We see the behavior of the Belarusian government as a hybrid attack, but the people it uses are victims who need help.”