Monday 22 November 2021
Poland blames Belarus
150 migrants fail to break through the border
Belarus is supposed to bring migrants from crisis regions to the EU’s external border in an organized manner. Poland sees this as an attack on its border. The country is taking action against migrants accordingly – 150 of them fail again.
According to the Polish border guards, a group of around 150 migrants tried in vain to break through the border barriers from Belarus and enter the EU illegally. The incident occurred at night near the town of Dubicze Cerkiewne, the authority said on Twitter. “The attack on the Polish border was overseen by the Belarusian security forces.” Since Poland does not allow journalists into the area, the information cannot be verified.
The European Union accuses Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko of organizing migrants from crisis regions to the EU’s external border in order to put pressure on the West. The people from Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan entered Belarus on tourist visas. Poland’s President Andrzej Duda told Sieci magazine that Lukashenko may be targeting Poland “because we are toughly defending the border and the regime in Minsk is interested in showing a physical confrontation with the West.”
In Belarus, supplies for migrants started again in the morning at an emergency shelter in Brusgi on the border with Poland. Pictures from the state agency Belta showed soldiers distributing hot tea, cookies, yogurt and curd. An estimated 2000 people use the warehouse as a temporary sleeping place. It is unclear how things will go on with the migrants in the long term.
Experts from the World Health Organization are currently in Belarus. They wanted to clarify how the WHO could help in the crisis. According to the authorities, around 100 migrants have already been taken to hospitals, including people with pneumonia. There is great concern about a corona outbreak in the emergency accommodation.