Armed group of 50 far-right German vigilantes are stopped by police from patrolling Polish border to stop migrants entering the country
- Far-right thugs with machetes patrolled for immigrants on German-Polish border
- Police sent them home from Guben, near the border, and seized their weapons
- An extra 800 officers were on stationed in the area to control the migrant flow
German police stopped more than 50 far-right vigilantes with links to neo-Nazis and armed with pepper spray and machetes from patrolling the country’s border with Poland for illegal immigrants.
The vigilantes were following a call by the Third Way, a far-right party with suspected links to neo-Nazi groups, for its members to stop illegal crossings near the town of Guben on the German-Polish border.
Police seized weapons including pepper spray, batons, a bayonet and a machete from the thugs and made them leave the town late on Saturday and in the early hours of Sunday.
More than 50 far-right vigilantes hunting illegal immigrants while armed with pepper spray, a bayonet, a machete and batons had their weapons seized and were sent home by police
Some of the group had travelled to the area from other parts of Germany.
Dozens of more liberal-minded people held a vigil in Guben over the weekend to show their opposition to the planned far-right patrols.
Germany’s interior minister Horst Seehofer, 72, said an extra 800 police officers were on the Polish border to control the flow of migrants trying to enter the European Union from Belarus.
Guben is a town on the Lusatian Neisse river in the state of Brandenburg, Germany, on the border (pictured) with Poland
There have already been 6,162 unauthorised entries into Germany from Belarus and Poland this year. Pictured: The German-Polish border at Guben
‘Hundreds of officers are currently on duty there day and night,’ he told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
‘If necessary, I am prepared to reinforce them even further.’
Mr Seehofer said there had already been 6,162 unauthorised entries into Germany from Belarus and Poland this year.
He previously said Germany did not intend to close the border with Poland but on Sunday he said the country might have to consider a U-turn on that.
He said: ‘If the situation on the German-Polish border does not ease, we will also have to consider whether this step needs to be taken in coordination with Poland and the state of Brandenburg.’
Many EU states accuse Belarus of sending illegal migrants across the border into the EU to put pressure on the bloc.
The EU imposed sanctions on Belarus after the disputed re-election of its President Alexander Lukashenko in August 2020.
Mr Lukashenko denies this and has blamed the West for what he says is a looming humanitarian catastrophe this winter after migrants were left stranded on the Belarusian-Polish border.
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