EU border where refugees are treated as human weapons

Thousands of men, women and children asylum-seekers are trapped in freezing conditions between hostile forces in the border areas separating Belarus from Poland and the European Union. They have come mainly from the Middle East, fleeing poverty and conflict in places such as Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. But instead of being welcomed, they face desperation and even death in the cold November conditions.

Polish riot police fired water cannons and tear gas at people trying to forcibly enter Poland. The clashes broke out after EU governments approved sanctions against the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, for allegedly engineering the crisis by allowing thousands of refugees from the Middle East to travel from Belarus to the Polish border.

Guardian lorenzo tondo says Michael Safdie What he found in the border area: Desperate families who have endured harsh weather and then beatings on both sides of the border.

But the “weapons” of migrants is also a threat to Belarus, says the Guardian’s Moscow correspondent, Andrew Roth, does Lukashenko Is there an exit strategy if the EU refuses to back down?

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