On Tuesday, April 28th, a German man was arrested by the Polish Army after refusing to stop while crossing the Czech-Polish border in the Opava region, near the town of Pilszcz. The soldiers fired two warning shots before detaining the man. The incident was reported in Polish media this week. Photo: KK / For illustrative purposes.
Czech Rep., Apr 29 (BD) – “Due to the intruder’s aggressive behavior, a soldier on duty fired warning shots,” reported Polish news website Interia.pl. Czech media sources including Novinky.cz and Lidovky.cz also reported on the incident.
Soldiers from Opole are patrolling the area. According to Polish media reports, the man was a German citizen living permanently in the Czech Republic. He approached the checkpoint from the Czech side of the border, got out of his car, and continued on foot.
According to military unit spokesman Piotr Płuciennik, quoted by Interia.pl, the man “did not pay attention to the soldiers’ instructions, and tried to enter our country several times. When verbal instructions did not work and the man refused to obey, the soldiers fired two warning shots.” The man was not injured in any way, and was arrested shortly after.
Like many other European states, Poland has reintroduced border controls due to the coronavirus pandemic. Since March 15th, Polish borders have been closed to foreign nationals, with several exceptions.
