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Lithuania has some 680km border with Belarus, which includes around 550km of fences (Photo: State Border Guard Service / Lithuania)

Lithuania law to allow 'volunteer' border guards to use violence

Lithuania's parliament passed a controversial new law allowing volunteers from around Europe to join its national border guard force — while giving them the right to use violence against asylum seekers and migrants crossing in from Belarus.

"There is no restriction for people from abroad to come," Emilija Švobaitė, a lawyer and rights campaigner at Sienos Grupė, a Lithuanian NGO, told EUobserver on Thursday (20 April) ahead of the vote.

She said it means radical rightwing groups f...

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Author Bio

Nikolaj joined EUobserver in 2012 and covers home affairs. He is originally from Denmark, but spent much of his life in France and in Belgium. He was awarded the King Baudouin Foundation grant for investigative journalism in 2010.

Lithuania has some 680km border with Belarus, which includes around 550km of fences (Photo: State Border Guard Service / Lithuania)

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Author Bio

Nikolaj joined EUobserver in 2012 and covers home affairs. He is originally from Denmark, but spent much of his life in France and in Belgium. He was awarded the King Baudouin Foundation grant for investigative journalism in 2010.

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