Poland says Belarus is returning migrants to the border after the camps were cleared by Reuters

By Yara Abi Nader and Kacper Pempel

BIELSK PODLASKI, Poland / BRUZGI, Belarus (Reuters) – Poland on Friday accused Belarus of returning hundreds of migrant lorries to the border and trying to cross them illegally, clearing camps that have become the centerpiece of a border and within hours. The escalation of the East-West crisis.

Poland’s accusation suggests that the crisis has not been resolved by an apparent change of attitude in Minsk, which cleared the main border camps on Thursday and made its first flight home to Iraq in months.

European governments accuse Belarus of flying thousands of people from the Middle East and encouraging them to try to cross the EU border illegally, killing several people in frozen forests. Belarus denies pushing for the crisis.

Polish Border Guard spokeswoman Anna Michalska said that on Thursday evening, just hours after the camps were cleared, Belarusian authorities were already returning hundreds of trucks and forcing them to try to cross in the dark.

“(Belarusians) were bringing more migrants to the place where the attempted crossing was forced,” Michalska said. “Initially there were 100 people, but then it brought more people to the Belarusian side in trucks. Then there were 500 people.”

When migrants tried to cross the border, Belarusian troops blinded Polish guards with lasers, he said at a news conference. Some migrants threw their trunks and four guards were lightly wounded.

Border access to the Polish side is limited by emergencies, making it difficult to verify your account.

“FRIENDSHIP”

Migrants from a camp on the Belarusian side were taken away on Thursday in large and crowded warehouses, and journalists were allowed to shoot. On Friday morning the children were running, and the men were playing cards, while one of them was playing with a baby in his lap.

Meanwhile, at a hospital in Bielsk Podlaskie, Poland, two migrants who were captured after crossing were treated and taken by Polish border guards.

Before moving, Mansour Nassar, 42, the father of six children from Aleppo who traveled from Lebanon to Belarus, described the suffering he had been in the forest for five days.

“The Belarusian army told us,‘ If you come back, we will kill you, ’” he said, in tears, on the hospital bed. “We drank from the ponds … Our people are always oppressed.”

Kassam Shahadah, a Syrian refugee doctor living in Poland who helps at another hospital, said patients are afraid of forcibly returning to Belarus.

“What they’ve seen, what they’ve experienced in that regard is a nightmare for them.”

EXTREME SUFFERING

Human rights groups say Poland has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis by sending back those trying to cross it. Poland says this is necessary to prevent more people from coming.

“I have personally heard the horrific tales of desperate people – including various families, children and the elderly – who spent weeks or months in poor and extreme conditions as a result of these impulses in cold and humid forests.” European Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović said it was after a four-day mission to Poland.

“I’ve seen clear signs of their painful experimentation: wounds, frostbite, being exposed to extreme cold, fatigue and stress,” he said. “I have no doubt that returning to any of these people’s borders will lead to more severe human suffering and death.”

Polish border guards have recorded seven deaths at the border. Rights groups say more than a dozen people have been killed.

“CYNIC AND HUMAN”

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko spoke of the crisis on Friday by telephone with his ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin has stressed the importance of cooperation between Belarus and the EU, which has long said that Europe needs to resolve the crisis directly with Minsk.

Europeans have ousted Lukashenko from last year’s disputed election, but have been cautious this week as German Chancellor Angela Merkel has spoken to Lukashenko twice over the phone.

But on Thursday the European Commission and Germany rejected Minsk’s proposal to Lukashenko to Merkel, according to which EU countries would take in 2,000 migrants and return another 5,000 to their homes.

The United States has accused Minsk of using migrants “as pawns in efforts to break up.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday that the situation at the borders remains very worrying.

“The use of vulnerable people by the Lukaxenko regime as a means of putting pressure on other countries is cynical and inhumane. NATO has full solidarity with all affected allies.”