Poland border crisis: Belarus shifts migrants stranded in camp

Belarus says temporary shelters have been set up for some 1,000 migrants who have been camping on the border with Poland and are trying to join the EU.

Poland confirmed that it had emptied the large migrant camp on the side of the border with Belarus on Wednesday.

For months, thousands of men, women and children have been gathering on the western border of Belarus.

Belarus has been accused of pushing migrants, mostly from the Middle East, to the border to destabilize the EU.

Belarus’s longtime authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko has repeatedly refused to lure migrants to the border in retaliation for EU sanctions.

The border crisis reached boiling point on Tuesday after Polish troops used tear gas and water cannons to repel migrants trying to enter the country.

Some of the migrants tried to break a heavily fortified crossing and threw rockets at the Polish forces, leaving some with injuries.

The migrants live in camps in freezing conditions and with little food or water only in Belarus, stranded between Polish guards on one side and Belarusian guards on the other.

But after more than a week of stalmate, Belarus has said it has opened a temporary shelter for them at a transport and logistics center near the Kuznica checkpoint, where thousands have gathered in recent days, hoping for a way to Poland and the European Union.

The Belarussian state news agency Belta showed pictures of migrants lying on the floor of the facility with mattresses, blankets and food parcels. Many in the group are Iraqi citizens, and the news agency said many of them were still planning to join the EU.

“We are not going back to Iraq. There it is very bad. For the future of our children, we want to go to Germany,” said one woman.