In total 103 persons were stopped, while 7 persons were admitted for humanitarian reasons, the head of the State Border Guard Guntis Pujāts told the Latvian Television program Morning Panorama.
Recent weeks have seen consistently large numbers of illegal border crossing attempts, fuelled by the state-sponsored international people smuggling operation of Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko.
Pujāts said that from time to time Poland, Lithuania or Latvia becomes a target country to test abilities to deal with Belarus' hybrid attack.
As a result of the most recent surge of illegal migration, the border guard is proposing to close the Silene crossing point on the border with Belarus.
In adddition Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have signalled that if the situation continues to deteriorate they reserve the right to completely close their borders with Belarus.
The proposal to close the Silene border point is needed as a signal to the Belarusian regime that travel and normal relations cannot be maintained when hybrid attacks are being directed against Latvia, and infrastructure is being damaged – with recent cases of holes cut in border fences.
Auxiliary forces from Lithuania's border guard have been brought in to reinforce border controls, said Pujāts. Border guards are also being assisted by both the National Armed Forces (NBS) and the State Police.
