Poland introduced temporary controls on its borders with Germany and Lithuania on Monday, in what the government said was a step to check migrants more thoroughly amid public concerns over immigration.

The move followed similar border measures over the past year and a half by The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany that have strained the fabric of Europe's passport-free Schengen zone.

In Poland, the debate over migration has become increasingly heated in recent weeks, with groups of far-right activists launching "citizens' patrols" on the western border.

Germany has had checks on its border with Poland since 2023, but this year shifted to a tougher approach that has seen it reject undocumented migrants, as well as returning them to Poland under EU rules and a bilateral agreement.

Warsaw says that has left it facing an unfair extra burden.

It also says that migrants in Belarus are trying to enter the EU through Latvia and Lithuania because their border defences are relatively weaker.

"That is why we have introduced controls on the border with Lithuania," Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Monday. "To redirect this stream of people, which is deflected by our barrier, but which wants to cross Poland again through the border with Latvia and Lithuania, and further into Europe."

Knut Abraham, Berlin's coordinator for German-Polish relations, said the checks could lead to congestion and hold up goods, while having little actual impact on migration.

Rafal Gronicz, the mayor of the Polish border town of Zgorzelec, also said he was worried about the effect on traffic and doubtful over whether the controls were needed.

"As long as I live, I have never known anyone who wanted to escape from Germany to Poland," he told TOK FM. "I hope that this will change someday. For now, it is just fake news. There are no pressing waves of migrants walking around Zgorzelec."

Poland's centrist government says that the numbers of migrants returned to Poland from Germany were higher under the previous nationalist government.

The interior ministry and border guard said the checks would not slow down traffic and that they had already detained an Estonian citizen on Poland's border with Lithuania for transporting four illegal migrants believed to be Afghans.

Public sentiment in Poland towards migrants has hardened since a Venezuelan citizen was charged with killing a 24-year-old woman in the city of Torun in June. On Sunday some 10,000 people took part in a march organised by nationalist activists in remembrance of her.

On Saturday evening a Polish man died after being stabbed during a fight in Nowe, northern Poland.

Police said on Monday they had detained 13 people in connection with the incident - three Poles and 10 Colombians.

State news channel TVP Info on Sunday showed angry crowds gathering in the town outside the workers' hostel where the Colombians lived.

Human rights activists condemned the "citizens' patrols".

"The actions of these self-proclaimed groups are the result of a radicalising political narrative that presents migration as a threat, which fuels social fears and distrust of state institutions," the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights said in a statement on Friday.

"The Foundation once again appeals for an honest and reliable public debate on the migration situation and border policy, based on facts, not fear and manipulation."

MENAFN08072025000049011007ID1109776964