Polish vigilantes intend to continue patrolling the border

Far-right activists in Poland plan to continue their unauthorized patrols at the border with Germany despite the new checks started by the Polish border guard.

Robert Bąkiewicz from the so-called Border Defence Movement told dpa on Monday that his members had withdrawn from the border crossings but would still patrol the border area with mobile units.

He stated that it is also about checking the work of the official border guard. "We want to observe whether checks are actually taking place or if it is just a publicity stunt by the government," Bąkiewicz said.

Bąkiewicz is known in Poland for having organized annual right-wing marches for Polish Independence Day in Warsaw in the past. For some time now, his newly founded movement has been recruiting volunteers to stop vehicles at the border with Germany and search for migrants.

The Polish government views the vigilantes as a thorn in its side. Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak has announced that any form of impersonation of authority will be consistently punished.

However, the conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party and the future president supported by them, Karol Nawrocki, have praised the unauthorized patrols.

The PiS and Bąkiewicz accuse the pro-European government led by Donald Tusk of willingly accepting a large number of migrants from Germany and not having the situation at the border under control.

The Polish border guard has been conducting checks since midnight at the borders with Germany and Lithuania. The centre-left government in Warsaw has ordered the border checks in response to stricter German border measures.