Poland’s border crisis: Migrants are being relocated to a warehouse, leaving the camp empty
nytimes.com
Border guards reported that a migrant camp on the Belarus-Poland border that had become a temporary home for 2,000 individuals had been evacuated.
Migrants who had been camping there in subzero temperatures in the hope of crossing into the EU have been relocated to a neighbouring warehouse.
The tensions between Belarus and the European Union have been de-escalated as a result of this agreement.
Belarus has been accused of engineering the border issue in order to destabilise the EU, but it denies the charge.
The migrants are mostly from the Middle East, and on Thursday, the Iraqi authorities arranged for more than 400 Iraqis to be returned from Belarus aboard a flight to Irbil.
The improvised camp outside Poland’s border barrier at Bruzgi is now deserted, with only a few blazing campfires and the remains of stick buildings left behind.
On Wednesday, around 1,000 men, women, and children began relocating to a nearby logistical depot. Most individuals went there voluntarily, according to the Belarusian border force, while roughly 800 people initially lingered at the border camp until severe weather forced them to seek refuge as well.
The problem came to a head earlier this week when Polish troops used tear gas and water cannon to prevent refugees from attempting to enter the nation. However, there are now expectations that Belarus’ authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, may alter course and help defuse the situation. He spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel numerous times this week.
The EU, NATO, and the United States have accused Belarus’s president of enticing migrants to the border with the false promise of easy entrance into the EU.
Belarus has denied acting in retaliation for a series of EU sanctions imposed in the aftermath of a hotly disputed presidential election in August 2020. Mr Lukashenko repressed huge protests in the face of widespread accusations of brutality against political opponents and protestors.