Dozens—likely hundreds—of people are reportedly trapped in a no-man's land throughout the dense forests between Belarus and Poland, bouncing between the countries' security forces and without food or shelter, often for weeks, according to testimonies.
Lukashenko -- often dubbed 'Europe's last dictator'-- is accused of luring migrants, mostly from the Middle East, to Belarus by offering easy access to Europe and then pushing them over the border into Poland and Lithuania. The number of migrants crossing has soared in recent months from what is normally a few dozen to thousands, with many headed to Germany and other Western European countries, according to Polish and Lithuanian authorities.
In Poland, activists from human rights groups and charities say they are trying to help the migrants, bringing food, clothes and assistance with asylum claims to prevent border guards from forcing people back across the border It's just a way"for the Belarusian state to intimidate Europe. And using the refugees as a bullet in their war," Olaqi said.
Boushra Al-Moallem, a teacher from Syria who said she had spent 20 days in the forest, said Belarusian guards had separated people into groups and then led them to crossing points at the border, picking the time they would cross. That meant a harrowing choice for Olaqi and other men fleeing from Yemen. The activists helped them fill out asylum papers on the forest floor. But in order to apply they would need to summon the Polish border guards -- the same guards that had repeatedly driven them back into the woods.
"We are not pushing back those people to Syria or, I don't know, Afghanistan," Poland's deputy foreign minister Marcin Przydacz told the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle this week. He did not deny that Polish border guards were pushing people back across the border, saying most wanted to apply for asylum in Germany, not Poland. He said the focus should be on the fact that this was an"artificial crisis, orchestrated by the Belarusian regime.
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