Hours after the confrontation began, Belarus’ border guards moved several migrants to shelter in a nearby warehouse, where they spent the night on thin mattresses, hot tea, bread from the Belarusian Red Cross, the United Nations refugee agency and received medical treatment. Other Support Groups. But it was unclear what was ahead for the migrants, many of whom feared their new accommodation was the first step in the process of being deported back to their home countries.
The relatives who carried out the incident of assault on Tuesday night with tired children were defeated. Asked by CNN where he would go next, one person said: “Back to Iraq. Goodbye to Belarus.”
But on Wednesday afternoon, around 600 to 700 migrants were still standing at the border fence, refusing to budge.
Hash Muhammad, 27, from Iraqi Kurdistan, said she had been camping there with her husband and their younger daughters, 2-, 4- and 7-year-olds, in the cold for more than two weeks. She says the family has nothing left in Iraq and they are afraid to be sent home.
“Before my kids die, we need help. I have [a] Message, we want to ask to go to Germany,” she said.
Tuesday’s violence, the worst in a month-long standoff on the EU’s eastern border, took the serious human toll of the ongoing geopolitical standoff between Belarus, an ally of Russia, and Poland, an EU bloc and member of NATO. Underlines. No side is ready to back down except the migrants in the middle. At least nine people have died at the border in recent weeks, many from hypothermia, according to the Polish Border Guard Agency.
Ahmed al-Hassan, a 19-year-old Syrian man who drowned in a river while trying to cross from Belarus last month, was buried in a small town in northeastern Poland on Tuesday. His bereaved family in Syria watched a torch-lit funeral service via video link.
Thousands of migrants like al-Hasan – mostly from the Middle East and Asia – began to appear on the Belarusian side of the border in summer, walking through forests, rivers and swamps to reach Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. His quest for a better life in Europe. Some have made.
And even for those who have crossed over to Poland, it is uncertain whether they will be allowed to stay.
CNN spoke to two Afghan brothers, aged 20 and 21, who walked for days in the jungles of Belarus and across the border to eastern Poland, where they said they had met a smuggler who had taken them to Warsaw . But as soon as he reached the capital, the police arrested him.
The brothers were being treated for hypothermia at a hospital in eastern Poland. They say they are desperate to join their uncle in Germany, but are not sure whether they will be allowed to continue their journey by the Polish authorities.
“When the government changed” [and the] Taliban occupied Afghanistan, everyone quit their jobs and my parents are not working right now, no money, no food… I can’t get education, schools and universities are closed enough It’s time.” said one of the brothers. “That’s why I want to go to Germany.”
The brothers were taken from the hospital by Polish police after CNN left. It is not clear where they were taken.
Poland is being criticized by international aid organisations, which say they are violating international law by pushing asylum seekers back to Belarus, instead of accepting their applications for international security. Poland stands by its actions, saying they are legal.
Officials on the other side of the border in Belarus told CNN on Wednesday they were waiting to hear from officials in Munich about a possible “humanitarian corridor” to bring migrants into the country. President Alexander Lukashenko on Monday offered him a flight to the German capital on his state-run airline after Poland refused to open its border.
But that option seems incredibly unlikely. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Monday evening that Germany would not take the migrants, and the EU plans to return them home.
In her second phone call in nearly as many days, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with Lukashenko on Wednesday about the need to ensure humanitarian care and return opportunities for those affected, with the support of the United Nations and the cooperation of the European Union Commission. was underlined.
Earlier on Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the commission would raise €700,000 (about $791,000) to provide food, blankets, hygiene and first aid kits to refugees at the Belarusian border. “We are ready to do more. But the Belarusian regime must stop luring people and risking their lives,” von der Leyen said.
The European Union has blamed Belarus for building up the crisis on the bloc’s eastern border, accusing the government of opening floodgates for people desperate to flee a region plagued by unemployment and instability. EU officials have called it a “hybrid war”, which they say is designed to punish Poland for taking on the president’s political opponents and pressure the bloc to lift sanctions on Belarus. But it has had the opposite effect.
On Monday, Europe said it would impose new sanctions on Belarus targeting “everyone involved” in escalating the border crisis. EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell announced at a news conference in Brussels that new restrictions on “people, airlines, travel agencies and everyone involved in this illegal push of migrants” would be confirmed in the coming days.
It will be the fifth round of sanctions on Belarus by the EU after a disputed presidential election and crackdown on dissidents.
Lukashenko’s government has repeatedly denied such claims, instead blaming the West for the crossing and poor treatment of migrants.
To support its version of the crisis, Minsk has allowed CNN and other international media outlets to report on sightings of migrants at the border. Many people are living in vulnerable tents where the temperature drops below zero during the night.
Meanwhile, Warsaw has tried to keep the crisis at bay by blocking the Polish side of the border for journalists, aid workers and doctors amid an extended state of emergency.
On Wednesday, CNN spoke to families who sought refuge in a warehouse about a kilometer from the border, which usually holds cargo. Scattered on blankets and sleeping bags, their belongings piled up in heaps around them, they were relieved to be out of the cold, but worried about their future and hurt by the ordeal that won them a Belarusian visa. And have spent thousands on flights to Minsk.
Many migrants say they traveled to Belarus in search of employment opportunities, medical care for family members, and a more stable life in Europe.
Twenty-eight-year-old mother Shoksan Bapir Hussain, her husband and four-year-old son, Azi Ali Zader, were among them. CNN met the family for the first time a few days ago at the Freezing Borders camp. Hussain said the warehouse was better, warmer. “We have food, we have [a] bed,” she said.
Hussein’s family began traveling from Iraqi Kurdistan because of their son, whom they said required surgery for a back condition. Aji, who has sprained his legs, cannot walk. These are the hopes and dreams that have kept people here irrespective of the circumstances.
Hussein said, “I want to go to Germany… I think there is humanity in Germany.”
Matthew Chance and Zahra Ullah reported from Belarus, while Antonia Mortensen reported from Poland. Elijah Mackintosh wrote and reported from London. Magda Chodownik, Kung Kaminsky, Fred Pleitzen and Stephanie Halas contributed to this report.
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