WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Sirens blared and lawmakers in Poland’s parliament observed a minute’s silence Wednesday in honor of a young soldier who was fatally stabbed on the Polish-Belarusian border during a migration crisis that Poland says was caused by Russia and Belarus.
The soldier, Mateusz Sitek, was stabbed in the chest on May 28 by a migrant who stabbed a knife through a hole in a steel fence. He died from his injuries over a week later, on June 6.
Sitek was buried on Wednesday in his native village of Nowy Lubiel in central Poland.
“He gave his life for us, for our homeland,” said President Andrzej Duda, who attended the funeral.
In Warsaw, parliament speaker Szymon Holownia asked lawmakers to “honor the sacrifice of this young hero,” saying he was “attacked by a bandit.”
Some lawmakers shouted, “Honor and glory to the heroes!”
In the afternoon, sirens sounded at police, fire and border guard posts across the country in a show of solidarity with Sitek, who was posthumously promoted to the rank of sergeant in the army and awarded a Medal of Merit for National Defense.
The death has added to a sense of insecurity that has already grown as a result of Russia’s war against Ukraine, just across another part of Poland’s eastern border.
The Belarusian border crisis began in 2021, when migrants arrived in large numbers at the European Union’s eastern border, passing through Belarus and attempting to enter EU member states Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
Poland and other EU governments accused Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko of luring migrants from the Middle East and Africa in large numbers with visas and other aid to destabilize the bloc.
The sense of threat has increased recently. Poland says it is seeing increased activity from Russian and Belarusian security forces and increasing aggression at the border.
Poland’s previous anti-migrant government built the steel barrier at the border and pushed migrants back into Belarus, a situation that refugee rights activists criticized.
A pro-EU government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, which took power in December, has also taken a tough stance on the border crossings, frustrating activists who hoped for an end to the setbacks.
After the attack on the soldier, Tusk’s government announced that a buffer zone would be created along parts of the border with Belarus with entry restrictions for people who do not live in the area, including activists and journalists. The Interior Ministry said it would come into effect on Thursday.
Refugee rights groups say the buffer zone will worsen a dire humanitarian situation and prevent them from helping migrants crossing the border into swamps and forest areas in need of food or medical assistance.
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