Expulsion or crossing in the snow: Belarus’ ultimatum to migrants

Published on : 12/08/2021 – 3:49 PM

Belarus has started to expel the migrants it had attracted since the summer, giving them the hope that they could easily join the European Union. On December 5, migrants stranded at the border with Poland were forcibly taken to Minsk airport. In the warehouse of Bruzgi, transformed into an accommodation center, demonstrations against the evictions were filmed by our Observer.

Migrants told Der Spiegel and to the Russian media Novaya Gazeta on 3 December when members of the Belarusian security forces asked them to cross the border with the European Union within three days, failing which they would be sent back to their country. However, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on November 26 that migrants would not be deported.

>>> SEE ON OBSERVERS: Poland – Belarus: GPS positions and videos, calls for help from migrants stranded in the forest

Repatriation flights to Iraq and Syria have been in place since early November. While some chose to return home, others were forcibly taken to the airport, as Farhad, an Iraqi migrant staying at the Bruzgi warehouse, explains:

Last night [dimanche 5 décembre, NDLR], we took the passports of some and they were forcibly returned. They are at the airport now. A week ago Lukashenko came and said: you can stay here, there is no problem. But in fact, we are taken by force to bring us back to our country.

The people who come to pick up the migrants to bring them to the airport, they look like private detectives, they are not dressed like the other soldiers. You can’t see their faces, just their eyes. Yesterday, 20 people were taken by force. We all shouted “free them”, and seven or eight of them were released after our screams. But the others were taken to the airport.

Some are afraid and say they want to return voluntarily, to avoid all that, these forced departures. But for others like me, it is not possible.

Since the summer of 2021, several thousand migrants have come to Belarus by plane from Iraq, Syria or countries in Africa in the hope of reaching the European Union. Obtaining a visa has been simplified and direct flights have been set up to facilitate arrival in Belarus. However, crossing the border to the European Union turned out to be perilous: the migrants had to face the cold in the forest and endure the violence of Belarusian and Polish border guards, pushing them from side to side. from the border.

>> SEE ON THE OBSERVERS: Hope, then dead end: migrants tell from the Belarusian border

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