Polish farmers believe they have found a way to stop illegal migrants from crossing over into their country from Belarus.
Aleksandr Lukashenko, the Belarusian President, has weaponised immigration in response to EU sanctions imposed on his regime following his controversial re-election in 2020.
Opposition leaders accused the dictator of rigging the elections, which saw hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets in protest.
The demonstrations were brutally suppressed, with many of the opposition leaders either forced into exile or jailed.
In an attempt to undermine the EU, Belarus has helped immigrants travel through the country and cross into Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
The refugees are mainly from Iraq, Afghanistan, other Middle Eastern countries and Africa.
The numbers have steadily been increasing, with some 26,000 immigrants entering Poland from its eastern neighbour in 2023. This was nearly ten thousand more than in the previous year.
Polish farmers have now decided to take matters into their own hands in a bid to stem the tide.
Video footage posted to social media channels shows farmers spraying pig slurry along the Polish-Belarus border.
“We are showing solidarity with the Polish uniformed services,” a farmer explained. “We will show those in power how to secure our territory.”
Another adds: “Everything will be done according to the law. We hope that if we spray pig manure, illegal immigrants will not cross this strip if they follow their faith.”
Polish farmers assume that the majority of immigrants are Muslims, who consider pigs as unclean animals.
Poland has beefed up its border security and last week reinstated a roughly 60-kilometre (40-mile) no-entry buffer zone.
A spokesperson for the Polish border guards said the zone was meant to ensure the safety of locals and security officials on duty at the border and to limit the activity of human smugglers.
They added that migrants had become more aggressive and were using knives and clubs to attack border patrols.
On May 28, a young Polish soldier was stabbed in the chest by a migrant through the bars of the border fence near the village of Dubicze Cerkiewne. He later tragically died from his injuries.
