Right-wing extremist groups in Poland have recently been organizing unauthorized checks along the Eastern European country's border with Germany in a bid to stop migrants from being returned. The government in Warsaw has now announced that it will be clamping down on these vigilante groups — ahead of introducing its own patrols along the German border.
Poland's government says it plans to take tough action against right-wing vigilante groups patrolling the country's border with Germany.
Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak wrote on X that no one who breaks the law at the border would go unpunished.
"All cases of insulting, obstructing and impersonating officers in recent days have been documented and forwarded to the public prosecutor's office, which has initiated proceedings," Siemoniak stressed, adding that "(t)he Polish State will not tolerate arbitrariness and intimidation."
Far-right accuses government of unresponsiveness
The organization behind the vigilante border controls is the newly founded "Movement for the Defence of Borders" run by far-right figurehead Robert Bakiewicz, who is well-known across Poland as a divisive figure.
Bakiewicz is famous for organizing annual right-wing marches in Warsaw on Poland's Independence Day, held each year on November 11.
Over the years, these marches have created a nationwide network of far-right sympathizers who come together under Bakiewicz's leadership. In 2023, Bakiewicz, a former leader of ONR (National Radical Camp --one of Poland's leading far-right groupings, which a judge ruled could be described as "facist" in 2021) stood as a candidate for the right-wing PiS (Law and Justice) party.
According to the magazine Polityka, Bakiewicz relies on this network from the marches for recruiting individuals to conduct these self-appointed patrols at border crossings with Germany.
The group also however advertises for volunteers to take part in patrols on its website, and despite warnings by the interior ministry is still currently on a recruitment drive running through July 6.
"The German authorities are pushing migrants across the border and the Polish state is not responding," the group says online, adding that it is looking for "courageous, responsible and committed people to work with us at the border."
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Several hundred partially bloc border at weekend
On June 28, around 200 residents took to manning the Lubieszyn border crossing between Poland and Germany near the city of Szczecin alone, reported a local radio station, Radio Szczecin.
The previous day, as many as 300 people were reported to have come to the border to bloc access, with police reportedly resorting to the use of pepper spray to contain the group in at least one instance.
The actions seen at Poland's borders have meanwhile also received support from the country's two main opposition parties — the far-right Confederation Party and right-wing Law and Justice Party (PiS).
The government meanwhile has stated that the vigilante groups and their supporters were misled by fake news.
"The claim that Germany is transferring migrants to Poland is untrue," wrote the ministry. "We are mostly dealing with foreigners who were in Poland (most of them legally), and who then attempt to enter Germany but are denied entry due to border controls."
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Germany remains firm along its borders
The Polish government meanwhile wants to temporarily introduce its own controls at the German-Polish border starting next week under growing pressure from the far-right to respond to developments along the country's borders.
The move is seen as a response to Germany introducing random controls along the same border, which have been in place since October 2023, and which have been beefed up from time to time, for example during the UEFA European Football Championship in 2024.
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In recent weeks, however, under a directive of Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, these checks were further strengthened, attracting widespread criticism from some of Germany's neighbors, including Poland.
Germany had originally introduced the checks to get a better grip on irregular migration into the country, but authorities have been given additional powers under Dobrindt's directive, which include the right to turn asylum seekers back at the border.
This follows the reasoning that Germany is only surrounded by safe countries, and therefore no asylum seeker would need to come all the way to Germany to argue their case for protection, as they should be able to apply for it earlier on in their journeys.
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Vigilante action elsewhere in Europe
Vigilante groups in the Netherlands employed similar tactics along their shared border with Germany last month.
A small group of Dutch citizens started to conduct their own border checks near the northern town of Ter Apel on June 7, donning reflective visibility jackets and reportedly redirecting border traffic with flashlights to check for papers.
Repeated attempts at similar actions however were thwarted by Dutch authorities.
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with dpa