Euronews: Poland builds wall on border with Belarus to stop refugee flow
On the border of Poland’s Białowieża Forest, a wall has been erected separating Belarus and Poland for two years.
The wall was built as a barrier to stop the flow of illegal migrants, thousands of whom are trying to cross the border into the European Union.
The surrounding area, once a popular tourist destination in Poland, has become the scene of numerous tragedies related to the suffering of migrants.
This issue has become an increasingly divisive topic in Polish public opinion.
Euronews’ Valerie Gorie visits the Podlasie region in eastern Poland, where incidents between migrants and security forces have increased recently.
Among them was the death in June of a young soldier who was stabbed at the border, sparking national outrage and leading to a new law making it easier to use firearms.
The killing also attracted the attention of civilian groups, many of whom traveled from different parts of Poland to the border, claiming that their goal was to reinforce the government’s border guard forces.
“This kind of support is necessary so that the army feels more secure,” one member of the group explained.
However, senior Border Guard officers believe that the presence of these groups isn’t necessary.
At the same time, teams of NGO volunteers are stationed in the area, seeking to assist migrants who manage to cross the border and apply for asylum.
These volunteers believe that civilian or paramilitary groups patrolling the border are a source of concern.
On the other hand, the head of an NGO expressed her concern to a Euronews correspondent, saying, “In addition to our fears for the migrants, we are also worried about ourselves, because we don’t know how the nationalists will behave towards us”.
The Euronews team discovered a powerful mix of fear, anger and hostility from members of civil society groups, astonishment among some locals, despair from tourism business owners who have lost their income, and tragic stories of migrants who fled brutal violence and persecution in their homelands, only to find themselves trapped in a seemingly endless nightmare.
