Poland's Senate backs border wall with Belarus
A look back at the Polish upper house's approval of a costly barrier as migrant pressure on the Belarusian frontier grew.
What did Poland decide on 29 October 2021 as pressure mounted on its border with Belarus? Its Senate approved a plan to build a wall along the frontier, at an estimated cost of €353 million (US$407 million). The measure was a response to an influx of migrants.
The vote followed a rapid build-up of security forces. On 26 October 2021, Poland raised the number of soldiers on the Belarus border from 6,000 to about 10,000. The aim was to stop further illegal crossings by Middle Eastern migrants who, according to Warsaw, were being flown in by the Belarusian government.
The troop surge came after two border guards were hospitalised over the preceding weekend, when a group of 70 migrants stormed a section of the border.
Taken together, the deployment and the Senate's approval of the wall marked two steps by Poland within four days to harden its eastern frontier, part of what became known as the 2021 Belarus–European Union border crisis.
