Reporters prevented from working and kept away from migrants

In Belarus, press freedom is violated by the regime, but concerning Poland, a European nation, the fact of having a red zone, forbidden to reporters, kept at a distance from migrants, raises questions.

Belarus, he has been there several times, his last report covered the re-election of Alexander Lukashenko. When in November, the situation tends to the Polish border, the Sipa agency expresses its interest.

Paul takes several hours to reach Grodno, in the north-west of Belarus. It is here, over a few square kilometers, that the migrants are “parked”, but the region being a military zone, it is impossible to approach. The photographer is also arrested by the army, detained, then taken to Minsk, the capital. He will have seen nothing, heard nothing, and his report will collect the testimonies of the few migrants who arrive in Minsk, and who tell of the bullying and racketeering they suffer.

But Paul Dza draws up another observation with regard to these two previous visits, fear has settled in Belarus. Among journalists arrested, threatened, and for foreigners, expulsion, but also among the population. No one wants to talk to reporters anymore, even on condition of anonymity.

The terrible repression that followed the demonstrations denouncing electoral fraud during the last election has left its mark on Belarusian society.

And there, very close, on the other side of the border, in Europe, in Poland, is Marie-Pierre Vérot, special correspondent of the international editorial staff of Radio France. She is not better off.

The border forest, populated by 15,000 residents, is declared a red zone. And if the journalists venture to approach the crossing point of the migrants, they are strongly questioned. To see something, you need binoculars or spotting scopes, and make do with propaganda images, on both sides, which will feed all information flows.

Polish helicopters and drones film the evil Belarusians who attack migrants, and push them to flee to Europe. Belarusian helicopters and drones film the evil Poles, who push back with tear gas the unfortunate migrants seeking refuge in Europe.

And when Marie-Pierre Vérot finally succeeds in collecting testimonies, they shed light on reality. Belarusian agencies have promised these migrant families “Belarusian hotel + visa” packages to travel to Europe, insisting that the path through Greece was blocked. And when they arrived, they were immediately stripped, taken to the border, massed.

They were encouraged to throw projectiles in the direction of the Poles. Some families were able to pass, were able to testify. We understood that all this was prefabricated to provoke Europe, and destabilize it on a sensitive subject, but above all we saw that Brussels never condemned anything and let it happen. All in indifference. With a few deaths in a winter cold.

If it was a test on the back of human misery and the values ​​of the Union, it was convincing.