by Xinhua writers Cui Li, Zhang Zhang
SLUBICE, Poland, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Germany reinstated checks at all land borders on Monday, as a response to illegal immigration and security issues.
On the bridge connecting the Polish city of Slubice and Frankfurt in Germany, which face each other across the Oder river, a long line of cars travelling from Poland to Germany could be seen waiting on Monday.
The border bridge is a regular route for people living in Poland who commute to work in Germany.
On the bridge, Bartosz Anusewicz was walking from Slubice to Frankfurt, beside a queue of cars.
"I've heard that Germany has reinstated land border controls. The day after tomorrow, I'll be driving back to our home in France with my family, so today, I came to the border to see what's happening," he said.
His family spends several months a year living between Poland and France, he explained. When they heard the news about Germany reintroducing border checks, they were at their home in Slubice.
"I chose to walk to the bridge because the traffic is almost paralyzed in Slubice. I really hope that we can drive back to France without waiting for too long," he said.
A local resident said that some of his friends live in Slubice but work at the Tesla factory in Berlin, Germany. If they continue to commute by car every day, they are likely to wait for long hours in the morning as the roads will certainly be congested.
On Monday, German police officers could sometimes be seen getting out of their cars on the German side to check pedestrians they thought might be suspicious. However, most pedestrians were able to walk directly into Germany without being checked.
Traffic jams were visible throughout Slubice. At a gas station about two kilometers from the checkpoint, Xinhua reporters met Magdalena Kiss, a Polish woman who lives in the Netherlands and was on a road trip with a friend in Europe.
She had not paid attention to the news about Germany reinstating border checks, she said, but noticed the trip from Warsaw to Slubice was smooth until they reached the border. At that point, traffic became particularly congested.
Discovering that the road to Germany was even more jammed, they decided to take a break at the gas station.
"We've been stuck here for two hours, trying to drive to Germany and then to the Netherlands. Traveling by car within the EU has always been easy. We've been able to move freely within the borders of the EU. But with the current traffic situation, we may have to wait much longer, which is really a surprise for me," she said.
Later that afternoon, reporters visited Swiecko, around five kilometers south of Slubice. A high-speed border bridge between Swiecko and Frankfurt mainly serves container trucks and heavy goods vehicles traveling from Poland into Germany.
From Poland to Germany, trucks and container vehicles formed a long, slow-moving queue stretching from one end of the bridge to the other. By contrast, the traffic from Germany into Poland appeared relatively smooth.
Natallia Baradzina, a truck driver working for a Polish freight company, frequently drives between Poland and Germany. She said: "Usually, crossing the border is quick, and there are a lot of vehicles here. It's rare to see congestion as bad as today. But we have no choice, all we can do is wait."
Public data shows that road transport accounts for over 70 percent of freight between Poland and Germany. Some experts believe that if border controls persist, traffic congestion might directly impact the strong economic ties between the two countries.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk recently said that Germany's decision to restore border checks is "unacceptable," calling it a "de facto large-scale suspension" of the Schengen Agreement.
