Torn between appealing to the European Union and not risking being indebted to it, Poland warned on Wednesday that the crisis with Belarus "could last for months". Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said migrants used the same "method of attacking the Polish border" as seen at the Bruzgi-Kuznica border post on Tuesday. "Public attention was focused on what happened in Kuznica, while smaller groups of migrants attempted to cross the Polish border in other sections, also at night," he said. he declares.
On Tuesday in Kuznica, Polish security forces used tear gas and deployed water cannons to push back migrants who threw stones at them while trying to cross the border.
Nine members of the security forces were injured.
Belarusian national news agency BelTA said on Tuesday evening that border guards had started moving some migrants to a reception center far from the border.
Russian state television on Wednesday showed hundreds of migrants in a covered center near the border, where families with children spent the night.
Belarus' health ministry said it hospitalized six people, including four children.
The border guards of the two countries estimate this Wednesday that 2,000 migrants remain at the border, in a strip 3 km wide.
The conditions of cold and destitution are still worrying.
A lasting crisis
European countries accuse Belarus of having, since the summer, brought in thousands of migrants, mainly from Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, then of having pushed them to cross the border illegally, a tactic aimed at punish Europe for the sanctions it imposed on Minsk after the violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations. On Monday, Germany, the main destination for immigrants once they joined the EU, said its police recorded 26 illegal entries from Belarus via Poland between January and July, then 474 in August, 1903 in September and 5,285 in October.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and his main ally Russian President Vladimir Putin have dismissed the charges and criticized the EU for failing to welcome the migrants, some of whom have been stranded for weeks in wooded border regions, Poland, as well as the two other European neighbors of Belarus, Lithuania and Latvia, refusing to welcome them. The EU, according to Minsk, could resolve the crisis by lifting sanctions. This prompted Mariusz Blaszczak to say that “the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border will not be resolved quickly. We have to prepare for months, I hope not for years, ”he told Polish public radio PR1.
Iraq announced a repatriation flight scheduled for Thursday for at least 200 of its nationals stranded at the border, including women and children.
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President Lukashenko, in power for three decades, spoke on Monday about the crisis with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
It was his first phone call with a Western leader since the crackdown on mass protests against his regime last year.
Emmanuel Macron also spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to try to defuse the crisis.
Aid organizations say at least 11 migrants have died on both sides of the border since the crisis began this summer and have called for a humanitarian response.
VIDEO.
Migrants trapped at the Polish border: "They told us either you die here or in Poland"