Tensions flare on Poland-Belarus border as more migrants arrive
Send a link to a friend
[June 08, 2024]
By Barbara Erling, Kuba Stezycki and Kacper Pempel
BIALOWIEZA, Poland (Reuters) - Surrounded by lush forests, a dozen
people huddled near a razor-tipped fence along the Belarus border,
waiting for a chance to scale it or push aside its slats to head west
into Poland.
On the other side, armed Polish border guards and soldiers walked and
drove back and forth, keeping a close eye on group, who were mostly
young men from the Middle East, some of them marked with cuts from the
sharp wire.
Tensions over migration are high across Europe as far-right parties
calling for tougher controls face off against centrist movements in
European Parliament elections, which are taking place in Poland on
Sunday.
Here, that standoff has an extra geo-political edge. Poland and the
European Union have accused Belarus and Russia of trying to spread chaos
since 2021 by pushing migrants over the frontier in what Warsaw calls a
"hybrid war". Minsk and Moscow have dismissed the accusations.
The numbers of people arriving have been rising recently, according to
Polish government figures. And this week, what Poland sees as a war had
a casualty when a soldier patrolling the border died after succumbing to
his wounds from a confrontation with migrants on May 28.
In response, the centrist, pro-EU government of Prime Minister Donald
Tusk has announced plans to re-introduce a no-go zone along the
frontier.
"This border is not safe, unfortunately. The purpose of this zone is to
ensure that no one is exposed to the type of attack that Polish soldiers
are exposed to," deputy defense minister Paweł Zalewski told Reuters.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jun/08/images/ads/current/qualityinn_sda_PROMGRAD_2024.png)
OVER THE FENCE
Back at the fence on Monday, the group kept waiting. Ahmed Lebek, 24,
from Aleppo, Syria, said he had been there for more than a month. His
brother had given up and gone back to Belarus, though he had had no news
from him since.
"I come from the war to find a good life. But I found it very hard to
cross this border," said Ahmed, 35, an English teacher form Syria. He
had tried four times to climb the fence.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/060824PIX/news_t41.jpg)
A group of migrants, mainly from Yemen, receive help from
humanitarian organization activists in the forest near Grudki,
Poland, June 4, 2024. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jun/08/images/ads/current/graue_lda_BUICKENCORE4176_051324.jpg)
Under current arrangements, migrants can apply for asylum in
EU-member Poland once they are on the Polish soil.
One of them who made it though the fence a day later was Noaman Al-Hemyari,
a 24-year-old graphic designer from Yemen.
In the forest on the Polish side of the border, he told Reuters he
and others has built a ladder from wood, fabric scraps and plastic
bags, and scaled the barrier when darkness fell.
He had originally applied for a Polish student visa from Yemen,
which was rejected, before travelling to Moscow, then Belarus and
later the border area where he had spent 22 days.
"We had been caught by the Belarussians. They hit us ... Then they
said 'go'," Noaman said, visibly relieved and with leaves still in
his hair.
"They (smugglers) said it's so easy ... They lied to us. If I had
any idea it's like this, I wouldn't have come."
The no-go zone, when it is introduced, will make things even more
difficult for the migrants, said Agata Kluczewska, who runs a local
migrant support group, offering food, medicine and transport.
She had come to the forest to help Noaman and his five companions
start the asylum application process and to inform border guards,
who would take them to a processing centre.
Any return to more restrictive measures, she said, could leave more
people stranded on the Belarus side, and force volunteers like her
to return to the days when they had to go out covertly to help
arriving migrants.
"The zone rules will affect us very much," she said. "We will have
to start hiding again."
(Editing by Andrew Heavens)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |