2 yıl önce

Polish fire station welcomes migrants amid Belarus border crisis

Thousands of migrants face cold and hunger as they are trapped on the Polish-Belarus border.

Reuters

People in the eastern Polish town of Michalowo have decided to help, setting up a centre in a fire station where migrants can come for warmth, food and drink.

Residents of the eastern Polish town of Michalowo have set up a welcoming centre in a fire station to welcome migrants suffering from cold and hunger amid a growing refugee crisis on the Poland-Belarus border.

Thousands of migrants are flocking to Belarus' border with Poland, hoping to enter Western Europe. Many are now stranded at the border, enduring freezing weather in makeshift camps as Polish security forces observe them from behind a razor-wire fence while preventing their entry into the country.

Poland has reported at least seven migrant deaths throughout the months-long crisis. Migrants on the scene have expressed fears they could die.

So far, two migrants, one Iraqi and the other Syrian, stayed in the fire station for two nights according to a worker who declined to be identified.

"I believe it has a very deep symbolic dimension because it shows that this place is friendly for migrants, that this place and the people who live here want to help. They are kind and are able to show it," said Urszula Dragan from the Families without Borders initiative, who had come to visit the centre.

The centre in Michalowo receives donations of food and other supplies from around Poland and even from abroad, one person working there said. In addition to providing a place to stay for migrants, the centre provides supplies to organisations helping migrants on the border.

What is behind the crisis?

Belarus has been rocked by months of massive protests following an August 2020 election that gave authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office.

The opposition and the West rejected the result as a sham.

Belarusian authorities responded to the demonstrations with a fierce crackdown that saw more than 35,000 people arrested and thousands beaten by police.

The European Union and the US reacted by imposing sanctions on Lukashenko’s government.

A furious Lukashenko shot back by saying he would no longer abide by an agreement to stem illegal migration, arguing that the EU sanctions deprived his government of funds needed to contain flows of migrants.

Planes carrying migrants from Iraq, Syria and other countries began arriving in Belarus, and they soon headed for the borders with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

The EU accused Lukashenko of using the migrants as pawns in a “hybrid attack” against the 27-nation bloc in retaliation for the sanctions.

SOURCE: TRTWorld and agencies