Belarus border: Poland seeks emergency order amid asylum seeker surge

A state of emergency would give authorities broader powers to monitor and control people’s movements.

The Polish government asked the president on Tuesday to declare a state of emergency in two regions on its border with Belarus after the Polish Border Guard said hundreds of irregular crossings had taken place this month. Poland began building a barbed-wire fence last week along the border in an effort to curb the flow of asylum seekers from countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan crossing from Belarus. A state of emergency would give authorities broader powers to monitor and control people’s movements.