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These Syrian migrants have achieved what around ten thousand people are currently trying to do: to cross the EU border from Belarus to Poland.
In this camp in Bialystok they tell about the stages of their odyssey through Belarus.
Youssef Atallah, refugee: »We spent the night in an apartment. At five in the morning they drove us to Minsk in a van. That took three and a half hours. It was another three hours from Minsk to the border. We drove through the forest by car to the border. There the driver dropped us off and said the border was 500 meters away. We could just walk over. The driver then drove back. Then Belarusian border police came, followed us and took us prisoner. We had to kneel down, we did that, so ... then a soldier kicked my face from the side. I was passed out for a few minutes. He broke my nose and broken a bone. My eyes are swollen.
I feel a little safer here now.
But I am worried about my family.
I have two daughters and a wife in Syria. "
According to reports from the refugees, Belarusian soldiers allowed them to cross the border into Poland directly.
Thaer Rezk, refugee:
»We are hundreds, probably more than hundreds of people here and want to go to Poland.
He cut the fence. "
Journalist: "Who cut it up?"
Thaer Rezk, refugee: »A Belarusian. And said: go to Poland. "
Haled, refugee: “Nothing at all happened. You can just cross the border into Poland. "
Journalist: "So nobody stops people."
Haled, refugee: "Only until sunset, then you can cross over."
The precarious situation of the refugees on the Belarusian-Polish border remains tense.
So far, eight deaths have been confirmed.
On Wednesday night around dozen refugees tried to get over the barbed wire fence near the village of Bialowieza.
More than 50 of them were arrested and hundreds were pushed back to Belarus.
