Poland accuses Belarus of trucking migrants to border as crisis exacerbates

The Polish administration has asserted that Belarus was transporting hundreds of migrants back at the frontier, hours after clearing camps at the border. In its latest accusation, Warsaw said that its eastern neighbour was even inciting the refugees to illegally cross the border and pursue their perilous journey towards central Europe. Notably, the east-west conflict is a direct result of a migrant exodus on their nearly 400-kilometre long border. Since this summer, hundreds of thousands of immigrants-majorly from the Middle East and Asia- have flocked on the border, out of which ten have died, according to a report by Irish Times. 

Speaking to the media, Polish Border Gaurd Spokesperson Anna Michalska accused Belarusians of pushing asylum seekers to cross the fence in the darkness of the night. Explaining the situation on the ground, she said that Belarusian guards were caught flashing lasers in the eyes of their polish counterparts, as the migrants attempted to cross the fence. Furthermore, she said that albeit few people are crossing the border, some large groups have been very aggressive. 

“[The Belarusians] were bringing more migrants to the place where there was a forced attempt to cross.At the beginning there were 100 people, but then the Belarusian side brought more people in trucks. Then there were 500 people,' the Polish offcial said. 

Belarus clears border camps

On Thursday, Belarus cleared hastily constructed makeshift migrant camps along the Kuznica border. In another potential sign of de-escalation, hundreds of Iraqis checked in at a Minsk airport to avail outbound repatriation flights, the first since August. This comes as the Iraqi government began to repatriate citizens who requested to leave. As per the CNN, over 400 Iraqi citizens, who were transferred from Belarus' border to Minsk, were evacuated on an Iraqi Airways on Thursday, the Iraqi Transportation Ministry said in a statement.

However, tensions between the European Union and Belarus are far from being resolved after the union, backed by Germany, refused to accept Belarus' proposal that urged EU countries to accept 2,000 migrants currently on its territory. At least 13 people have lost their lives living under fire humanitarian crisis along the Poland-Belarus border in freezing temperatures and lack of adequate food and water supplies, The Guardian reported, citing an NGO study. On Thursday, the 13th victim of the crisis was a one-year-old child whose family took a perilous journey through Belarus to enter an EU nation.

Image: AP