Protesters in Poland including politicians from the Conservatives (PiS) blocked a bridge on the border to voice their opposition against the transfer of migrants from Germany to Poland.
The March 8 protest “Stop Germany from flooding Poland with migrants” took place the Polish side of a bridge that connects the Polish town of Słubice with the German city of Frankfurt on the river Oder.
Several hundred demonstrators managed to block the bridge for a short period. According to the Conservative portal Niezależna.pl, there were some scuffles with police.
The demonstration took place despite the local mayor’s refusal to allow it on the grounds of “public safety” and a court’s refusal to overturn the local official’s decision.
The protesters held banners opposing the European Union’s Migration and Asylum Pact, approved last year. That introduced the requirement for member states to either accept asylum seekers or provide financial support for migrants they refused to admit.
“The European Union and Germany, in co-operation with the Tusk government, want to bring millions of culturally alien migrants to Poland!” wrote the organisers in their announcement of the event, referring to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his centre-left administration.
“Mass migration is associated with a huge increase in the number of rapes, murders, and acts of terror. We must not let such a fate befall Poland,” added the campaigners.
Germany has, in line with the Dublin Regulation, been sending back hundreds of asylum seekers who have applied for protection in Poland before illegally crossing into Germany while their claims were still being processed.
The Dublin Regulation is a European Union ruling that determines which member state processes asylum applications.
Since reintroducing border controls with Poland in 2024, Germany has been turning back thousands of migrants at its border with the country for not having the legal right to stay in Germany. That was despite the fact that many had not not applied for asylum in Poland.
The Tusk government has criticised Germany for these push-backs and has itself introduced measures to tighten the border between Poland and Belarus through which many migrants have been able to make their way into the EU.
The PiS has argued that the government was not doing enough and has demanded a national referendum.
In 2023, a referendum on the issue asked Poles if they wanted to accept reallocated migrants from other EU countries.
More than 90 per cent responded that they did not but the referendum failed to meet the statutory turnout level of 50 per cent for the result to be mandatory on the government.
The shortfall was primarily becuase the then Tusk-led opposition had urged people not to participate in what it considered a plebiscite with “loaded questions”.
