(Sokolka) Polish security forces arrested around 100 migrants as they attempted to cross the border with Belarus on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, with Warsaw accusing Minsk of orchestrating the attempt.
The new incident comes as Iraq announced a repatriation flight Thursday for at least 200 of its nationals stranded at the border, including women and children. This flight should leave Minsk and would first go to Erbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, then Baghdad.
“A group of about a hundred migrants has been arrested by the Polish services,” the ministry said, accusing the Belarusians of having “forced the migrants to throw stones at the Polish soldiers in order to divert their attention”.
“The attempt to cross the border took place a few hundred meters away,” near the village of Dubicze Cerkiewne, the ministry said.
Video released by the Defense Ministry shows Polish soldiers surrounding a large group of migrants crouching on the ground at night in a forest near a barbed wire fence.
“The attack yesterday (Wednesday) was carried out by special forces from Belarus,” once again accused the Polish Defense Ministry.
A few thousand migrants, mostly from the Middle East, have been camping for days in freezing temperatures along the Polish border on the Belarus side in the hope of being able to enter the EU.
The West accuses Minsk of having orchestrated this influx since the summer, in response to Western sanctions against Belarus after the repression in 2020 of a historic opposition movement.
Warsaw, as well as the two other European neighbors of Belarus, Lithuania and Latvia, refuse to accept these thousands of migrants.
Humanitarian aid
Belarus announced on Wednesday that it had “negotiations” with Brussels to resolve the ongoing migration crisis at the EU’s borders, with the European Commission only referring to “technical discussions” with Minsk on the repatriation of migrants to their country.
The Commission “will hold technical discussions on repatriation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), with the International Organization for Migration (IOM, associated with the UN) and with Belarus,” he said on Twitter a spokesperson for the European executive.
“Belarus must provide access to humanitarian aid and provide shelter to migrants in the country,” he reiterated.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke during the day by telephone, for the second time in three days, to discuss this issue which is causing serious tensions between the EU and Belarus supported by Moscow .
Isolated since on the international scene, Minsk argued on Wednesday that the appeal between Mme Merkel and Lukashenko had reached an agreement on the organization of Belarus-EU talks.
But this announcement was immediately qualified by Berlin, which only mentioned cooperation between Minsk and the EU to provide humanitarian aid to migrants stranded at the border.
Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak warned on Wednesday that this crisis “could last for months, even years”.
The old woman, the Polish security forces had used tear gas and water cannons to repel a crowd who threw stones at them as they tried to cross the border.
Polish border guards said they recorded 161 attempted “illegal crossings” on Tuesday, including “two attempted forcible crossings”.
For their part, aid organizations say at least eleven migrants have died on both sides of the border since the crisis began this summer.
The migration crisis settles between the EU and Belarus
A migratory standoff between the EU and Belarus, against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions. Here is what we know about this crisis which trapped thousands of migrants on the Polish-Belarusian border.
The crisis sets in
Since the summer, several thousand migrants, mostly from the Middle East and in particular from Iraqi Kurdistan, have flocked to Belarus to try to reach Poland, Lithuania or Latvia, members of the European Union.
The Europeans accuse Minsk of having orchestrated the situation in reaction to Western sanctions taken because of the repression of the Belarusian opposition.
Scared by the migration crisis of 2015 and anxious not to create a call for air, the EU has provided support to Belarus’s neighbors who have barricaded their borders and sent back most of those who tried to cross it.
At least eleven migrants have died since the start of the crisis, according to humanitarian organizations.
On Tuesday, Warsaw also used freezing temperatures of water cannons and tear gas to repel a crowd which, after a week in a makeshift camp on the Belarusian side, advanced on the border post between the Belarusian towns of Brouzgi and the Polish towns of Kuznica.
Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said the crisis “could last for months or even years”.
Some 4,000 people are said to be currently stuck in Belarus. Hundreds of them are in wooded areas in very difficult material conditions.
Belarus opened a first reception center on Tuesday evening to house and feed them. Some 1000 people have found refuge there.
From Brussels to Moscow, who says what
For the EU, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is the instigator of the crisis. He would like to force the Europeans to speak again with him, while they do not recognize his re-election in 2020 and treat him as an outcast because of a merciless repression of his opponents and civil society.
The person denies, but is pleased to have twice this week spoken to Chancellor Angela Merkel, even assuring that direct talks between the EU and Belarus are imminent.
The German interpretation is different, Berlin speaking of a process involving the High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Organization for Migration – two UN entities – and the European Commission to organize humanitarian aid and repatriation.
Nonetheless, Merkel’s spokesperson considered it “useful to speak” to Lukashenko, “even though he is a leader whom Germany, like all other European member states, does not recognize. legitimacy ”.
For Warsaw, the crisis is an opportunity to close ranks with its European partners, who blame the Polish power for a drift and flout EU principles such as the independence of justice or the primacy of community law.
Remaining upright in its boots by locking its borders, Poland is posed as the first line of defense of a Europe which fears the repetition of a migratory influx of magnitude.
The Kremlin has dressed him in this case as a “negotiator”. Posing as a reasonable actor, he welcomes the fact that “direct contact” EU-Belarus has been established.
Moscow sees with satisfaction that its Belarusian ally is asserting itself, Russia having supported the regime of Alexander Lukashenko in the face of Western pressure.
Migrants, big losers
The migrants, for the most part, left their countries spending thousands of dollars to reach the EU via Belarus.
But the border appears to be largely impermeable, as the Balts and Poles are determined to block the passage. Warsaw even plans to build a wall and has deployed thousands of men and the army.
With winter, the weather will deteriorate and make living conditions ever more difficult. Already, it is freezing and the snow should be falling soon.
Currently, the choice seems limited for these migrants: to stay in Belarus to try to smuggle in perilous conditions or to return.
Between 200 and 300 Iraqis seem to have made the choice of repatriation. A flight is due to bring them back to the country on Thursday.