- Title: Latvian officials visit Belarus border as pushback of migrants starts
- Date: 11th August 2021
- Summary: SILENE, LATVIA (AUGUST 11, 2021) (REUTERS) MEMBERS OF LATVIAN PARLIAMENT VISITNG SILENE BORDER GUARD STATION BORDER GUARD BRIEFING PARLIAMENT SPEAKER, INARA MURNIEC, AND INTERIOR MINISTER, MARIJA GOLUBEVA BORDER GUARDS SHOWING TEMPORARY DETENTION TENT MURNIECE LOOKING ON IN FRONT OF TENT (SOUNDBITE) (English) LATVIAN INTERIOR MINISTER, MARIJA GOLUBEVA, SAYING: "About 56 persons tried to cross the border from Belarus (after state of emergency announcement) but none of them were admitted to Latvia. So, at the moment there are no people detained today since we passed this regulation, there are no persons detained, who tried to cross and crossed into the Republic of Latvia." OFFICALS STANDING NEXT TO TENTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) LATVIAN INTERIOR MINISTER, MARIJA GOLUBEVA, SAYING: "In my opinion Belarus is doing it (allowing migrants to cross into the EU) as the revenge against the sanctions imposed by the EU, after the kidnapping of the plane and other hostile acts." JOUNALISTS DURING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) LATVIAN INTERIOR MINISTER, MARIJA GOLUBEVA, SAYING: "This is a specific situation, and we were forced basically to accept those specific and very extraordinary measures in order to stop this instrumentalisation of people, instrumentalisation of migrants by a dictatorial regime in Belarus." LATVIAN FLAG ON BORDER GUARD UNIFORM (SOUNDBITE) (Latvian) CHIEF OF LATVIAN BORDER GUARDS, GUNTIS PUJATS, SAYING: "If they (migrants) have found a way to reach border there shouldn't be a problem for them to find a way back. As far as I know they have arrived for tourism and travel purposes around Belarus, so they can continue their tourism trip around the country they have arrived to." MURNIECE TALKING TO BORDER GUARDS, GROUP OF OFFICIALS WALKING AWAY OFFICALS POSING FOR PHOTO SILENE BORDER CROSSING
- Embargoed: 25th August 2021 15:10
- Keywords: Belarus Belarus-Latvia border Latvia Latvian Interior Minister migrants crossing to Latvia from Belarus
- Location: SILENE, LATVIA
- City: SILENE, LATVIA
- Country: Belarus
- Topics: Europe,Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001EPU722V
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Latvia's interior minister and speaker of parliament visited a border crossing with Belarus on Wednesday (August 11) after the Baltic country started pushing back migrants under a new state of emergency.
Interior Minister Marija Golubeva said no migrants had been detained in Latvia on Wednesday following the start of emergency measures aimed at stemming a tide of arrivals to the European Union country, and more than 50 had been turned back at the border.
Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of "weaponising" migrants to put pressure on the EU to reverse sanctions.
Golubeva said the Latvian government had to adopt the emergency measures to stop the "instrumentalisation of people" by Belarus.
Under the state of emergency, the border guard, armed forces and police are authorised to instruct illegal immigrants to return to the country they came from, and use physical force if they refuse, the Baltic News Service reported on Tuesday (August 10).
Border pushbacks are deeply controversial - human rights groups say they can involve serious human rights violations against prospective asylum seekers and multiple breaches of international and EU law.
On four previous nights, guards patrolling a 36.5-km (23 miles) stretch of the 170-km-long (106 miles) Latvia-Belarus border said they stopped around 200 people and moved them to the Mucenieki migration centre near the capital Riga.
(Production: Janis Laizans, Karolina Bohacova) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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