Sunday, November 21, 2021

Demonstrators on Poland-Belarus border demand more help for migrants

By Philip Andrew Churm • Updated: 21/11/2021 - 10:30

Copyright Czarek Sokolowski/Associated Press

Dozens of people gathered in the eastern Polish town of Hajnówka to show solidarity for migrants stuck at the Belarusian border.

They want the Polish Government to let NGOs work freely and help the migrants.

Among them was Kaja Jasienko, a lawyer from Wroclaw.

"What we demand for the moment from the Polish government is - please open a corridor, let the humanitarian organisations, let the medical organisations into the forest, into the closed zone," she said.

Volunteer from Warsaw, Agnieszka Jusis, also joined with the protesters. "I want to help these people, these kids," she said.

"I think we should do something. Even if just protesting, but we should show to our government, our president, our prime minister that we are here, we don't agree with what they're doing."

Meanwhile, Polish Police released pictures of the area along the border with Belarus (close to Kuźnica ) , now entirely cleared of migrant encampments.

Belarus has moved around 2,000 migrants who were living in freezing conditions to a nearby warehouse.

Poland's defence minister, Mariusz Błaszczak, accuses Belarus of "changing tactics" and "directing smaller groups of people to multiple points along the European Union’s eastern frontier."

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