Some 150 people took part in an anti-migrant rally close to the Lithuanian-Belarusian border on Sunday, demanding to stop migrants crossing into Lithuania.
The event took place in Druskininkai District in the south of the country which has experienced a surge in irregular migration in recent months. Rally organisers said some 150 people took part.
So far this year, Lithuanian border guards have detained over 1,600 people crossing into Lithuania from Belarus, most of them from the Middle East and Africa. Lithuanian officials say the Belarusian government is facilitating migrant smuggling.
The protesters drove cars with Lithuanian flags and posters saying “Stop illegal migration” and “Europe is not your home”.
One of the organisers of the rally is Raimondas Grinevičius, who was also involved in the controversial Big Family Defence March, an anti-LGBTQ+ rally last May.
He told BNS that the rally was protesting “the government's impotence” to deal with the situation.
“Our government has messed up and now people working by the border, local residents and municipalities have to deal with it,” Grinevičius said.
Lithuanian officials have claimed that irregular migration is facilitated by the Belarusian government and is a retaliation for EU sanctions and Lithuania's vocal support to the country's pro-democracy opposition.
Meanwhile, Sunday's protesters demanded the resignation of Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, the leader of the ruling conservative Homeland Union (TS-LKD) party.
Commenting on Sunday's event, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė criticised the rally for adding to the workload of border guards and police officers.
“Protests are, of course, allowed in a democratic country. The problem is that the protest detracts officers from their main work, of which they have a lot at the moment,” Šimonytė told LRT RADIO on Monday morning.
She added that if the protesters truly cared about stopping irregular migration, they should let border guards focus on their main duties.
Lithuania has declared a state of national emergency over the situation in order to direct additional resources to accommodating the migrants.
On Friday, the government announced it was erecting a fence on the border with Belarus to stem the flows of migrants.
Read more: Lithuania to spend €41m on border fence with Belarus
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