In eastern Poland, border guards fired tear gas and water cannons Tuesday at hundreds of asylum seekers who tried to push their way through a razor wire barrier erected along the Poland-Belarus border. Some of the refugees responded by throwing sticks, stones and bottles at soldiers in riot gear. Many of the migrants have spent weeks enduring freezing temperatures in squalid camps hoping to reach the European Union to apply for asylum.

On Monday, the EU threatened new sanctions against Belarus, accusing it of encouraging migrants to cross into Poland in retaliation for earlier sanctions imposed after Belarus cracked down on pro-democracy protests.