Latvia declared a state of emergency on Tuesday as hundreds of migrants gathered along the country’s border with Belarus, in what is widely thought to be a deliberate move by Minsk.

The state of emergency applies in several regions in the south-east of the country and the south, close to the Belarusian border.

The government said the state of emergency would be in place until November 10.

According to BNS news agency the move allows border guards to send back migrants who have entered the country illegally from neighbouring Belarus, using force if needed.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has openly threatened to send migrants form war-torn countries such as Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq in the past.

This was in retaliation for sanctions imposed by the European Union for the country’s serious human rights violations following the disputed results of the presidential elections in 2020.

Illegal border crossings into Lithuania, part of the bloc, have risen significantly since the spat, and the government there declared a state of emergency to enable it to respond faster.

So far, 283 people have been arrested for illegal border crossings into Latvia during the past four days alone.

More than 340 in total have been arrested during the past few months.

The EU is considering imposing additional sanctions on Lukashenko for instrumentalizing migrants for political purposes.

The mass protests in Belarus last summer were triggered by the August 9 presidential elections, which were widely considered rigged.

Kaduna By-election: Dogara jittery over chances of PDP

Lukashenko was declared the victor with 80.1 per cent of the vote according to the country’s electoral commission, and was duly sworn in for a sixth successive presidential term.