Poland-Belarus border tensions escalate

Belarus is launching an investigation into what it calls the “incident” at the Belarus-Polish border earlier Tuesday, the official representative of the State Border Committee, Anton Bychkovsky, told Belarus state media outlet BelTA. Violence erupted as migrants threw stones at Polish border guards who responded with tear gas and water cannon.

Bychkovsky said the flare-up was instigated by the Polish side and accused them of "violent actions" against migrants on the border.

"In fact, the fence is on Polish territory, so Belarusian border guards have no legal right to approach it. To push back the migrants, the Polish side used tear gas," Bychkovsky said.

"This angered the refugees even more, who began throwing stones, sticks, everything that came to hand at a critical moment, including shoes, at the security forces. In response, the Polish side fired water cannon jets and stun grenades at the unarmed refugees."

Belarus authorities recorded the use of special equipment by the Polish security forces against unarmed people on the Belarusian side, he said.

“This is regarded as nothing other than violent actions against persons who are on the territory of another country. The Belarusian side is initiating an investigation of this incident,” Bychkovsky announced.

See what Belarus-Poland border looks like after violence erupted:

Migrants are stranded in freezing conditions at the Poland-Belarus and “there is very little sign at this point of any side backing down,” CNN’s Matthew Chance reported on Tuesday from the site.

The crowds were sprayed with water cannon after tensions escalated with Polish forces on Tuesday morning. “There was something acrid in the water” that stung people’s eyes and made others cough, Chance reported from within the crowds.

He said temperatures drop to “well below freezing at night” and can plunge dangerously low in Belarus in the depths of winter.

People are without sufficient shelter — most only have access to a tent or a sleeping bag, and a few clothes, as the crisis drags on.

“Everybody’s wet, everybody’s hungry,” Chance said, summarising the sentiment among many of the migrants gathered at the site.

Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko said he has spoken with Angela Merkel about the migrant crisis at the Polish border, and will hold another call with the German Chancellor soon.

The President's Office said in a statement that Lukashenko made a proposal on how to deal with the situation, and that the two leaders would speak again once Merkel had raised the issue with EU member states.

"There are more than 2,100 (migrants) and maybe even more, who are concentrated at the Bruzgi border crossing. You know that they have set up camp there, 800 meters from this crossing, and were constantly there for a week. Yesterday they took off and walked 800 meters and filled up the Bruzgi border crossing. This is the biggest problem," Alexander Lukashenko told the German chancellor, according to the readout.

"I know that there have already been attempts to deliver weapons to the migrant camp. As well as provocations that can lead to a violent conflict. In no case should this be allowed. This so-called problem cannot become the unleashing of a heated confrontation," he said.

Polish police said an officer guarding the border with Belarus was seriously injured after being hit by a projectile.

“Unfortunately - as a result of an attack by people inspired by the Belarusian side, one of the policemen was seriously injured,” the police tweets.

Violence erupted at the Poland-Belarus border on Tuesday, as migrants desperate to cross into the European Union threw stones at Polish border guards who responded with water cannon and tear gas.

Polish and Belarusian authorities have blamed one another for the ratcheting of tensions on the border, where thousands of people have traveled in the hope of making it into the EU only to find themselves stuck in freezing conditions.

The Polish Border Guard said Tuesday that migrants camped out near the Kuźnica-Bruzgi border crossing were behaving "aggressively," throwing stones and various objects at the Polish services. "In order to prevent illegal border crossing, water cannons were used against aggressive foreigners," the security agency said on Twitter.

Poland's Ministry of Defense shared footage on Twitter showing Polish officers and soldiers standing shoulder-to-shoulder with riot shields as rocks were lobbed over the barbed wire border fence, describing the scene as an "attack of migrants." The ministry also accused Belarusian services of equipping migrants with "stun grenades."

The spokesperson for Poland's security services, Stanisław Żaryn, wrote on Twitter on Tuesday about the clashes, describing migrants as "storming the border."

On the Belarusian side, there were chaotic scenes as crowds of migrants could be seen breaking up concrete blocks and gathering tree branches to throw toward the Polish side of the crossing. Women and children have been moved back from the border fence, and men, many of them voicing their anger, were amassing.

"We are fighting to stay alive," one man told CNN.

Read more here

Migrants and CNN crew are sprayed by water cannons:

CNN's Katharina Krebs and Eliza Mackintosh contributed to this reporting.