Belarussian special forces stormed offices of the country's Polish minority on Thursday, prompting a protest from the European Union after Poland called for help from Brussels. Polish Foreign Minister Adam Rotfeld said relations between the Slav neighbours, separated by the EU's eastern frontier, were in "severe crisis" after months of diplomatic expulsions and rows over the rights of ethnic Poles in Belarus.
"In the name of common values, we are calling on the European Commission to take decisive steps to help Poland ... protect its ethnic minority in Belarus," Rotfeld told a news conference announcing he had summoned his ambassador from Minsk.
The EU executive expressed deep concern and called on the authorities in Minsk to respect minority rights.
"This new episode takes place in the context of a growing repression of political parties and non-governmental organisations and also independent media in Belarus," said European Commission spokesman Amadeu Tardio.
"We call on Belarus to ensure full compliance with its obligations, including protection of minority rights, and we will continue to monitor closely the situation," he said.
In a pre-dawn raid Belarussian forces stormed the headquarters of an association of ethnic Poles in the western town of Grodno near the Polish border, detaining about 18 people, witnesses and media reports said. All were later freed.
It was the latest in a series of moves against ethnic Poles in the ex-Soviet state in the last three months, after President Alexander Lukashenko - described by US officials as Europe's last dictator - accused Poland of plotting an uprising.
The Belarussian Interior Ministry declined to comment on the raid. The Justice Ministry has said it plans to shut down the Union because of illegal activities.
Poland's parliament passed a resolution expressing outrage at repeated violations of international human rights standards including freedom of association.
Poland says it must protect the rights of its 400,000-strong minority in Belarus but makes no secret of its wish to extend democracy eastward and help tilt Minsk towards the west, as it did by backing Ukraine's Orange Revolution last year.
Poland, the largest post-communist state in the European Union, actively campaigned to overturn a fraudulent election in Ukraine in 2004, eventually won by a pro-western candidate - to the annoyance of Moscow, which had backed his rival. Warsaw says fears of a Ukraine-style revolution that could turn Belarus away from Russia led to Minsk's clampdown on the 20,000-strong ethnic Polish association.
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