Immigrants are still trying to ‘invade’ Poland from Belarus

Immigrants were still trying to cross the border from Belarus overnight and cross into Polish territory, albeit in smaller numbers and smaller groups, the Polish authorities announced today, a day after the evacuation of the main border camps in which had gathered people from the Middle East.

Yesterday’s evacuation of these makeshift camps and the first return flight to Iraq in months seem to signal a change of attitude from Minsk, which could help ease the crisis that has turned into a major East-West confrontation in recent weeks. .

However, the EU rejected Minsk’s proposal to accept 2,000 migrants, which makes it clear that the dispute has not yet been resolved.

Polish Defense Minister Marius Blaszczak told the private Polsat network that attempts were still being made to cross the border after the camp was evacuated, but in smaller groups than before when sometimes hundreds of people tried to cross the fence at the same time.

The Polish border guard said in a Twitter message that 250 attempts were made to cross the border yesterday, half of the previous day. She did not specify how many were made after the evacuation of the camps yesterday, Thursday afternoon.

European countries accuse Belarus of deliberately causing the crisis by airlifting thousands of migrants from the Middle East and forcing them to cross the border illegally. Belarus, backed by Russia, has denied any involvement in the crisis.

About 10 migrants are believed to have died while camping in the forest near the border.

Minsk’s move to evacuate them yesterday and transport them to a huge warehouse – where hundreds of people, including young children, were lying on mattresses – alleviates the humanitarian emergency as these people are no longer in the cold in the countryside. . Lithuanian President Gitana Nauseda said that the tough stance taken by the EU pays off.

However, the European Commission and Germany rejected the Minsk proposal, which would allow EU countries to accept 2,000 migrants currently in Belarus and repatriate 5,000 others. The United States has accused Minsk of using immigrants as “pawns in its efforts to create problems”.

Source: AMPE