A Polish bare-knuckle boxing troupe has vowed to join the ranks of vigilante groups who have taken to policing the nation’s borders from illegal immigration.
In a promotional video featuring bare-chested fighters, Gromda, a self-described “underground” fighting club for “modern gentlemen” in Warsaw, declared: “We defend Polish borders so no one can sneak in on the sly, so to all you wannabe tough guys… you enter at your own risk.”
During a separate comedy skit filmed with one of the fighting club’s black members, the group added: “This is POLAND. We keep order and take care of our own. Because if you’re one of us, you work honestly and follow the rules, then everything is smooth and cool… but if you come in with a shady, tanned face, trying to barge in and act like a thug, there’s no entry, get lost, or you’ll catch a beating and get kicked out.”
It came amid an uptick in Polish vigilantism along the German border over accusations that the recently installed government of Friedrich Merz in Berlin has been pushing illegal migrants into Poland.
Groups such as the ‘Border Defence Movement’ (‘ROG’) of Polish nationalist activist Robert Bąkiewicz claimed that they were forced to “defend our civilisation” by standing watch over the border and performing “citizen checks” in light of the failures of the liberal government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk to prevent illegals from entering the country.
In an apparent attempt to take command of the situation, Tusk deployed troops along the border with Germany as well as with Lithuania and Estonia on Monday. His government said that citizens engaging in vigilante border patrols must stand down in favour of the military or face fines.
The increased border patrols by the Polish military will also seek to prevent what Warsaw and others have claimed are “hybrid warfare” attempts by Russian ally Belarus to push migrants towards the Polish border to allegedly destabilise the European Union.
Minsk has been accused of bussing migrants to the border while promising the migrants that they would be received with open arms by Germany and benefit from their generous welfare programmes for asylum seekers.
“We’re doing this for you as well, for the Germans, for the Dutch, for the French, because this is the European Union border,” Prime Minister Tusk said on Monday.
German daily Welt interviewed people standing watch along the border. One man, holding a Polish flag and a banner reading “stop immigration”, told the paper that he had previously engaged in vigilantism but was now watching to see if the military could take control of the situation.
“I don’t understand why Germany is sending illegal migrants to Poland. This is not Poland’s problem, but Germany’s,” he said.
This sentiment was shared by a woman who owns a shop near the border at Beata.
“The controls are very good because there are no longer any private controls,” she said, adding that they were only necessary because of Germany: “That’s all because of that Angela Merkel, she took in all the migrants. This is not our fault.”
Follow Kurt Zindulka on X: Follow @KurtZindulka or e-mail to: [email protected]
Read the full article here