(ANSA-AFP) - WARSAW, DEC 1 - Poland on Tuesday extended
emergency measures restricting access to its border with Belarus
which is at the centre of a migrant crisis the West blames on
Minsk. The interior ministry announced the extension of a
controversial state of emergency that bars all non-residents --
including journalists and NGOs -- from the border area where
thousands of mainly Middle Eastern migrants have been blocked
from entering the European Union. The West has accused
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's regime of
orchestrating the crisis and posing a so-called hybrid threat to
the EU, which Minsk denies. Poland's conservative-controlled
parliament on Tuesday rejected Senate amendments allowing
journalists to travel to the border and President Andrzej Duda
signed new measures allowing the interior minister to ban access
to parts of the border area depending on the situation. Under
Polish law, a state of emergency can last three months at most.
The current measures started in September and had been due to
end at midnight. (ANSA-AFP).
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