By: Ankita Kulkarni
October 3 2023
No, this video does not show 'recent attack' by migrants at Polish border
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Social media posts claiming that the video shows recent migrants’ attack on the Poland-Belarus border. (Source: X/Screenshots/Modified by Logically Facts)
Fact-Check
The Verdict Misleading
The video is not recent. It shows migrants cutting the barbed-wired fence at the Belarus-Poland border near the Kuznica in 2021.
Claim ID 8a5e678e
Context
Ahead of the Polish Parliamentary elections to be held on October 15, 2023, the country is holding a referendum on migration and other issues. According to a DW report, the mounting border tension with Belarus and the issues on migration have been the center of the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party’s campaign.
What's the claim?
As a result, a video of a group of people attempting to break down a barbed fence is circulating on social media, claiming it shows illegal migrants attacking Poland's border from Belarusia while trying to enter the country.
One post on X (archive here) shared on September 24, 2023, wrote, “Migrants attacked the border of Poland from the Belarusian side in order to destabilize the situation", — Polish Ministry of Defense They endangered the safety of Poles. Due to the strengthening of the presence of the army on the border, Russian and Belarusian plan failed!” The post has garnered 1,57,300 views at the time of writing. Archived links of other posts making this claim can be viewed here and here.
Screenshot of posts circulating online. (Source: X/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)
However, the viral footage is old and unrelated to the present context.
What are the facts?
On conducting a reverse image search using a screenshot from the viral clip, we came across a video report published by CNN on November 15, 2021. From 2:15 to 2:19, that shows people attempting to break a fence. The video title reads, “Migrants attempt to tear down barbed wire at Belarus-Poland border.”
This video was also published on The Telegraph’s official YouTube channel on November 8, 2021. It is identical to the viral clip.
Comparison between the viral clip and the video report by The Telegraph.
(Source: X/YouTube/Modified by Logically Facts)
The Polish Ministry of Defense also shared this video on its official X account on November 8, 2021. The video is posted in a thread, and the caption reads, “Kuźnica: attempt to cross the Polish border (translated from Polish).”
We found a Reuters report published on November 9, 2021, noting that thousands of migrants were seen at the Belarus border attempting to enter Poland, and some tried to bring down the fence using spades and other tools. It included a quote from Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller, who said, "There were currently 3,000-4,000 migrants near the border, and more than 10,000 others across Belarus ready to try and cross into Poland.” Reuters also added that the country had deployed additional soldiers, border guards, and police at the borders, announcing that the crossing at Kuznica, where migrants were expected to cross, would be closed. This report also included the viral clip.
Therefore, the above evidence shows that the video is old and unrelated to the current migrant crisis.
The verdict
A video from 2021 is being shared to claim that migrants from the Belarus side recently attacked Poland's border to enter the country. Though the incident in the video occurred near the Poland-Belarus border, it is not recent. Therefore, we have marked the claim as misleading.