Poland blocks migrants at Belarus border, warns of 'armed' escalation

Poland said it had repelled an attempt by hundreds of migrants to illegally enter the country by crossing the border from Belarus

Poland said it blocked a bid by hundreds of migrants to illegally enter the country from Belarus on Monday, warning of an "armed" escalation as thousands more massed near the border.

As the latest grim chapter of Europe's migrant crisis unfolded, Washington and Brussels called on Minsk to stop what they described as an orchestrated influx.

Brussels says Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has encouraged the migrant flow in retaliation for existing EU sanctions imposed over its dismal human rights record.

"Interior ministry forces and soldiers managed to stop the first mass attempt to breach the border," Poland's defence ministry tweeted.

Polish border guards posted video footage on Twitter showing migrants using wire cutters to breach a razor-wire border fence.

They say they are stuck between a rock and a hard place, with the Belarusian side refusing to allow them to return to Minsk and fly home, while Poland does not let them cross and make asylum claims.

Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller told reporters that a further 3,000 to 4,000 migrants were massing near the border.

Muller blamed "people linked to Belarusian special services" for organising the breach.

And in a statement on Monday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on EU member states to impose new sanctions against Belarus. 

Minsk has reportedly issued special visas allowing migrants to fly into Belarus from Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries.

"Poland or Germany can't handle this alone," caretaker Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told the Bild daily, urging the EU to "stand together".

The US State Department also called on Belarus to "immediately halt its campaign of orchestrating and coercing irregular migrant flows across its borders into Europe".

Lukashenko has denied the accusations levelled against his regime.

"According to the refugees, they gathered together in such a large group to prevent their forced expulsion by Poland, as well as to draw the attention of the international community to non-observance of human rights by Poland," he added.

At least 10 migrants have died in the region, seven of them on the Polish side of the border, according to the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza.

Videos published on Twitter by the Nexta Belarusian opposition media outlet, showed hundreds -- if not thousands -- of people in winter clothing carrying backpacks and walking along a road. 

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