Unlike those from Ukraine, most of the refugees from Middle Eastern and Asian countries late last year were pushed back by the Polish border guards. Forgive me if, in contrast with the hospitality shown to Ukrainian refugees, I cannot help but think of the Syrian and Kurdish men and women caught by Polish border guards and illegally and violently pushed back to Belarus.Īs I’ve covered the exodus of Ukrainian refugees escaping the Russian invasion, I have noticed a growing number of people from Pakistan, Ghana, Morocco and Somalia, mainly students, who have just arrived at Przemyśl train station from cities in Ukraine.Ī little girl from Syria in Bruzgi, on the Belarusian border. I cannot hold back the rage I feel for the Yazidi families who fought against Islamic State, but who were being forced to live in small tents in the woods at the European border, struggling to keep warm in damp sleeping bags as night-time temperatures fall below zero. Last winter, I covered for the Guardian the refugee crisis between Poland and Belarus, when the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, was accused of organising the movement of refugees, who were lured with the promise of safe passage to Europe, in reprisal for the sanctions Brussels had imposed on his regime.įorgive me, but I cannot come to terms with the stark difference between the outpouring of kindness towards Ukrainian refugees and the uncertain fate of thousands of asylum seekers from the Middle East, trapped between the violence of the Polish authorities and false promises of the Belarusians. I can’t help but think that these are the same authorities who spoke of a migrant invasion from the Middle East At the Belarusian border, at least 19 migrants have died in the frigid forests. In Przemyśl, the Ukrainians are served hot drinks. It is the same border force which, instead of offering a caring touch and a comforting smile, brutally beat the refugees from Aleppo, who are also victims of Vladimir Putin’s bombardments.
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