Large numbers of migrants are stranded in the cold on the border between Belarus and Poland, caught up in a geopolitical standoff on Europe’s eastern edge,
The Washington Post reports.
The European Union, like Poland and the U.S. State Department, accuses Belarus of sending throngs of people to the border to pressure its neighbors, a claim the country denies. But in the frigid forests between the two countries, rising numbers of refugees have been camped out for days, and aid workers warn they need help.
The exact number of people around the frontier remains unclear: Belarusian border guards have mentioned about 2,000 people, while Polish authorities estimated up to 4,000. Videos shared by the Polish Defense Ministry this week showed crowds massed next to the fence near the village of Kuznica, with some people trying to cut through the razor wire as guards pushed them back.
Poland, where the ruling party espouses a hard-line stance against immigration, has vowed “they will not come in.” More than 12,000 troops have arrived to reinforce the border, which the Polish prime minister visited at sunrise Tuesday.
The battle over migration has left asylum seekers stuck in a border zone where at least eight people died in recent months. U.N. agencies have urged the two countries not to use refugees as political pawns.
Many have trekked from Iraq, Afghanistan, and parts of the Middle East and Africa for the promise of refuge in Europe, only to end up in a cluster of makeshift tents in the woods. Some need food and shelter or risk getting hypothermia, according to aid groups.
