Polish contractors began work on Tuesday on a new 353-million euro ($407 million) wall along the Belarus border aimed at deterring illegal immigrant crossings following a crisis in the area last year.
The 5.5-meter high wall will run along 186 kilometers of the border -almost half the total length- and is to be completed in June.
Poland will tomorrow start construction on its border wall with Belarus.
It will be similar to the Greek border wall with Turkey.
The wall will be 5.5 m high and 186 km long.
Construction will take place around the clock, making it possible to finish the wall by June. pic.twitter.com/7ydOaORjon
— Visegrad 24 🇨🇿🇭🇺🇵🇱🇸🇰 (@visegrad24) January 24, 2022
“Our intention is for the damage to be as small as possible”, border guard spokeswoman Anna Michalska told Poland’s PAP news agency on Tuesday.
“Tree felling will be limited to the minimum required. The wall itself will be built along the border road”, she said, adding that contractors would only make use of existing roads.
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Thousands of illegal immigrants -mostly from the Middle East- crossed or attempted to cross the border from Belarus into Poland last year.
The West blamed the influx on the Belarusian regime, saying it had encouraged would-be illegal immigrants to fly to Belarus with the promise of an easy journey on foot into the European Union just as Turkey did in 2020 at the borders with Greece.
