Belarus brings hundreds of vehicles across the EU: Poland | Migration Issues

Despite efforts to combat the problem, Warsaw is said to have arrested many people who tried to enter the EU overnight.

Hundreds of refugees and internally displaced persons tried to cross from Belarus to Poland overnight while border conditions remained tense, despite efforts to resolve the crisis.

Polish Border Guard spokeswoman Anna Michalska said on Friday that a group of 500 people had tried to enter the European Union on Thursday evening, with the help of Belarusian authorities removing large camps along the border.

“[The Belarusians] was bringing in more refugees which was forcing them to cross, ”Michalska said.

“Initially, there were 100 people, but the Belarussian team brought more people in cars. Then there were 500 people.”

Michalska told the AFP newspaper that Poland had arrested 45 people, alleging that members of the group threw stones and fired tear gas at Polish officials while Belarussian security forces used lasers to blind them.

Al Jazeera, like all other radio stations, has not been able to confirm on its own what has happened at the border because Poland has banned journalists from entering the 3km (2 miles) zone.

The most recent crossing and closure came after Belarus moved people at the border to the nearest reception area followed the first flight back to Iraq that took hundreds back to Erbil and Baghdad. This seemed to signal a change in Minsk that could help resolve a crisis that has grown in recent weeks into a major East-West conflict.

Poland and its allies accuse Belarus of deliberately seducing thousands of refugees and internally displaced persons, many of them from the Middle East, and sending them across the border with Poland in response to Western sanctions against the government of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Minsk, backed by Russia, denies the allegations and criticizes the Polish military for its actions humanity while deporting people trying to enter the EU.

‘They play political games’

Aid agencies say at least 11 refugees and internally displaced persons have died across the border since the outbreak began earlier this year – although the actual number is believed to be higher – as concerns rise in public health as winter sets in.

But in recent days, an increasing number of diplomatic missions appear to be calling for improvements.

This week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke on the phone twice with Lukashenko, who is often rejected by European leaders.

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lukasjenko called again on the crisis and stressed the need for cooperation between Minsk and the EU, the Kremlin said.

However, those efforts failed to achieve a happy outcome.

On Thursday, the European Commission and Germany rejected Minsk’s request, when the EU will take 2,000 refugees and refugees now from Belarus, and another 5,000 will be sent to their home countries.

Assed Baig of Al Jazeera, from the Polish border town of Hajnowka, said those still missing from Belarus, many of whom apparently did not want to return, were “garbage … at the major political games taking place”.

Since the beginning of the year, Poland’s border guards service says it has recorded more than 34,000 attempts to cross Belarus, including more than 6,000 so far in November, about 17,300 in October, about 7,700 in September and more than 3,500 in August, when. problems began.

Despite the decline last month, Michalska told AFP that “recent attempts have been harsher”.