On July 11, illegal migrants on the Belarusian side of the border with Poland allegedly attacked Polish border guards with makeshift spears through a steel fence, resulting in the death of a 21-year-old Polish border guard. The day before, the police army chief warned of potential conflict as Poland bolstered its troop presence on the borders with Russia and Belarus amidst ongoing tensions following the Russia-Ukraine war.
Amidst these reports, a video showing water cannons being fired at a large crowd is doing the rounds on social media. Many users claim that Polish forces using tear gas and water cannons on refugees from the Middle East and Africa at the Belarus-Poland border.
The video is shared on Facebook with a caption: “Today’s feel-good video. Illegal migrants from the Middle East and Africa arrive at the Belarus-Poland border.”
Here’s the link to the above post. (Archive)
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the above claim, and found it to be MISLEADING.
A Reverse Image Search of the viral video keyframes detected reports from November 2021, featuring the same footage. A report, dated November 16, 2021, reveals that thousands of migrants attempting to breach the Polish border from Belarus. Polish security forces used tear gas and water cannons against refugees from Syria and Iraq on the Belarusian side, who retaliated by throwing sticks and stones. Belarusian border guards did not intervene.
In 2921, Poland, the European Union, and the US accused Belarus of engineering the migrant crisis by enticing people from war-torn countries like Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan with promises of easy entry into the Eurozone via Poland. However, Poland did not permit the gathered refugees to cross its border.
We found similar video reports, confirming that the viral video is from 2021 and not recent.
Thus, we can conclusively say that an old video showing a clash between Polish forces and refugees has gone viral with misleading claims.
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