Poland's vigilantes want to continue patrolling the border

Extremist right-wing vigilante groups in Poland want to continue their unauthorized patrols on the border with Germany despite the controls by Polish border guards. Although the activists have withdrawn from the border crossings, they are still on the move with mobile patrols in the border area, Robert Bakiewicz from the "Movement for the Defense of Borders" told the German Press Agency. It is also about checking the work of the border guards. "We want to observe whether controls are actually taking place or whether it's just a PR stunt by the government."

Bakiewicz is well-known in Poland because in the past he organized annual right-wing marches on Polish Independence Day in Warsaw. For some time now, his newly founded "Movement for the Defense of Borders" has been recruiting volunteers to stop vehicles at the border with Germany and search for migrants.

Opposition party PiS praises unauthorized patrols

Poland's government is a thorn in the side of the vigilante groups. Minister of the Interior Tomasz Simoniak has announced that any form of usurpation of authority will be consistently punished. The right-wing conservative opposition party PiS and the future president it supports, Karol Nawrocki, on the other hand, have praised the unauthorized patrols. The PiS and Bakiewicz accuse Donald Tusk's pro-European government of willingly accepting a large number of migrants from Germany and not having the situation at the border under control.

Polish border guards have been patrolling the borders with Germany and Lithuania since midnight. The center-left government in Warsaw ordered the checks in response to German border controls.