The EU border where refugees are treated like human weapons | New | Local News

Thousands of asylum-seeking men, women and children are trapped in freezing conditions between hostile forces in the border regions that separate Belarus from Poland and the European Union. They came mainly from the Middle East, fleeing poverty and conflict in places like Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. But rather than being greeted, they face misery and even death in the freezing conditions of November.

Polish riot police fired water cannons and tear gas at people trying to force the crossing into Poland. The clashes came after EU governments approved sanctions against Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko for allegedly staging the crisis by allowing thousands of asylum seekers from the Middle East through Belarus to the border with Poland.

The gardians Lorenzo Tondo recount Michel Safi what he found in the border region: desperate families who suffered bad weather and then beatings on both sides of the border.

But “arming” migrants also carries dangers for Belarus, says Guardian correspondent in Moscow, André Roth. Made Does Lukashenko have an exit strategy if the EU refuses to back down?

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