Lithuania border, camps in state of emergency over migrants from Belarus

FILE PHOTO: Belarusian and Lithuanian border mark poles are seen near a four-meter-high fence on the Belarusian border in Druskininkai, Lithuania November 4, 2021. REUTERS/Janis Laizans/File Photo

KAPCIAMIESTIS, Lithuania (Reuters) - Lithuania's parliament on Tuesday declared a state of emergency at the country's border with Belarus and at camps hosting migrants who arrived from there, a tally of votes showed.

The state of emergency, which begins at midnight local time (2200 GMT) in the night of Tuesday to Wednesday and is to last a month, allows border guards to use "mental coercion" and "proportional physical violence" to prevent migrants from entering Lithuania.