Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė is to visit the Kapčiamiestis Frontier Station on Wednesday after the parliament introduced a state of emergency along the Belarusian border.
During her visit in the country's southern Lazdijai District, the prime minister will meet with officers of the State Border Guard Service (VSAT) and other officers protecting the border, the PM's spokeswoman Rasa Jakilaitienė told BNS.
Read more: Lithuania declares state of emergency on border with Belarus
Šimonytė's visit comes after a state of emergency at the Belarusian border came into force at midnight. Lithuania introduced the measure in response to events on the Polish-Belarusian border, where several thousand migrants have been attempting to force their way into Poland.
Giedrius Misutis, spokesman for the VSAT, told BNS on Tuesday that the migrants were crowding close to the intersection of the Belarusian, Polish and Lithuanian border. The prime minister is going to the frontier station in this territory.
Although there is more tension, Misutis said, no major unrest incidents have been reported.
Lithuanian border guards have pushed back 6,298 irregular migrants trying to cross the Lithuanian-Belarusian border since early August.
Increase in migrants
In the last 24 hours, Lithuanian border guards have stopped 281 migrants from entering Lithuania, the VSAT said on Wednesday morning.
Read more: Migration crisis in Baltics and Poland
It was the second-highest figure since August 2 when Lithuania introduced pushbacks, with a higher number, 321, registered on August 4, according to the VSAT.
Around 20 shots were fired on the Belarusian side near Lithuania's Druskininkai municipality on Tuesday night, the VSAT said. Meanwhile, Lithuanian border guards and troops assisting them reportedly did not use their service guns.
The VSAT also reports that border guards checked a Minsk-Vilnius bus on Tuesday afternoon and an Iraqi citizen presented a passport and a German resident permit. The document was supposed to give the woman the right to enter the Schengen Area without a visa. But border guards found the German permit to be a forgery. She was not allowed to enter Lithuania and was returned to Belarus.
VSAT officers stopped 73 migrants from Belarus on Monday, 97 on Sunday, 98 on Saturday, 126 on Friday, 58 on Thursday and 87 on Wednesday.
State of emergency
On Tuesday, Lithuanian lawmakers voted in favour of declaring a state of emergency along the five-kilometre strip on the border with Belarus as well as in the migrant accommodation facilities in Kybartai, Medininkai, Pabradė, Rukla, and Vilnius.
This is the first time the measure has been used in Lithuania.
The movement of vehicles in the border area without border guards' permission will be restricted, and entry into this territory will be banned, except for local residents as well as property owners.
Officers will have the right to stop and search vehicles and people in the areas under the state of emergency. Gatherings will not be allowed there.
Migrants who entered Lithuania and were accommodated in the country will see their right to communicate in writing or by telephone restricted, except for contacting the country's authorities.
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