Yahoo TV

STORY: Ahmed, an English teacher from Syria, has tried four times to climb the fence along the Belarus border.

Waiting for a chance to head west into EU-member Poland, where he could apply for asylum.

"We came from war to find a good life. We came for peace. We are not against anybody here."

He is part of a group of about a dozen people from the Middle East trying to cross the border in the forest.

On the other side, armed Polish border guards and soldiers keep a close eye on the group.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist Civic Coalition party came first in the European Parliament elections over the weekend.

But gains by the far-right in the vote, which calls for tougher border controls, will heighten tensions over migration.

The standoff here has an extra geo-political edge.

Poland and the European Union have accused Belarus and Russia of trying to spread chaos since 2021 by pushing migrants over the frontier.

Warsaw calls it a "hybrid war."

Moscow and Minsk have dismissed the accusations.

According to Polish government figures, the number of people arriving has been rising.

Last week, a soldier patrolling the border died after succumbing to his wounds from a confrontation with migrants on May 28.

In response, Tusk's pro-EU government has announced plans to re-introduce a no-go zone along the frontier.

Pawel Zalewski is the country's Deputy Defense Minister.

"This border is not safe, unfortunately. The purpose of this zone is to ensure that no one is exposed to the type of attack that Polish soldiers are exposed to."

Noaman Al-Hemyari, a 24-year-old graphic designer from Yemen, made it through the fence at the border.

He had originally applied for a Polish student visa from Yemen, which was rejected.

So he travelled to Moscow, then Belarus and later the border area where he spent 22 days.

"We had no food, no water. We've been, starving and dying. The last day we crossed the Polish border. (REPORTER ASKING: How did you cross?”) We jumped, we had a wooden ladder and then we put it (on the fence) and then we jumped. We ran from the forest, and then we contacted the organization (“Fundacja Ocalenie”).”

Agata Kluczewska runs the organization Al-Hemyari contacted.

She had come to the forest to help him and his five companions start the asylum application process and to inform border guards, who would take them to a processing center.

She said the no-go zone, when it is introduced, will make things even more difficult.

"The zone rules will affect us very much because you can only do your professional work in the zone, but not voluntary one for example, which will limit the number of people who can get in. It will require us to hide again and do some partisan work. What is more, and it is absurd, it will require the service members, who are here to protect the border, to chase us. Therefore it is a total waste of resources.”