RIGA, Aug 19 (LETA) - The State Border Guard on Wednesday pushed back 11 persons for attempts to illegally cross the Latvian-Belarussian border and detained four persons, the State Border Guard reported.

Since August 10, 474 persons have been deterred from illegally crossing the border.

Four people were detained for illegally crossing the border. Due to humanitarian reasons they were allowed to enter the country.

Since the state of emergency on Latvia's border was declared on August 11, 14 people were allowed to cross the border, while 366 people have been detained this year so far for illegally crossing the border.

As reported, the government has declared a state of emergency at the Latvian-Belarusian border, authorizing the State Border Guard to use physical force in order to return illegal immigrants to the country from which they came.

Taking into consideration the steeply increasing numbers of illegal immigrants trying to cross into Latvia from Belarus, as well as the large number of illegal immigrants entering Lithuania from Belarus, the state of emergency will run from August 11 until November 10 in the following municipalities: Ludza Region, Kraslava Region, Augsdaugava Region, and the City of Daugavpils.