Migrants Massing on Poland Border, Lured by False Promise of Free Passage to German

Clashes between predominantly Iraqi and Afghan migrants bussed to the European Union’s frontier by Belarus and Polish forces may be repeated as numbers swell at crossing points once again.

Pictures and video released by the Polish government showing crowds massing on the Belarusian side of the Polish border reveal a new intensification of Europe’s border crisis — caused, according to Warsaw, by false claims the border would be opened to migrants seeking transport to Germany.

The Polish government has been forthcoming in the border crisis in releasing snippets of intelligence it has gleaned on the migrants’ activities, including messages instructing them how to act.

One such message was said by Polish government spokesman Stanisław Żaryn to be representative of rumours and “fake news” put about by Belarus that buses would come to the Polish border to take migrants directly to Germany.