Migrants on the march to Poland after Belarus shuts down nearby migration camp

Migrants pose for a photographer at the "Bruzgi" checkpoint logistics center at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno, Belarus, Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
By Grzegorz Adamczyk
2 Min Read

Belarus has reportedly shut down a large immigration center and withdrawn its services to a large group of migrants now allegedly being ushered closer to the country’s border with Poland, lieutenant Anna Michalska, a spokesperson for the Polish Border Guard, has claimed.

Following the interrogation of several illegal Iraqi migrants caught attempting to cross the Belarusian-Polish border over the last few days, Michalska explained that the group had reached Belarus in 2021 before being relocated to a logistics center warehouse in Bruzgi, close to the border crossing point at the Polish village of Kuźnica.

On Tuesday, the Border Guard informed that 134 people had attempted to illegally enter Poland from Belarus — the highest number so far this year.

Press officials from the Belarusian State Border Committee denied that any migrants had still been residing in the logistics center and claimed that on March 21, 98 migrants were sent to Iraqi Kurdistan from Minsk.

“The remaining foreigners were relocated to hotels and health resorts at their own behest, where they are currently waiting for the next return flights,” the committee stated.

According to the estimates of portal Zerkalo.io, as of March 20, 409 persons were still staying at the center in Bruzgi.

In early November 2021, several thousand migrants escorted by Belarusian services had reached the Polish-Belarusian border crossing at Kuźnica-Bruzgi. The migrants tried to forcefully break into Polish territory and Polish services were physically assaulted as the foreigners attempted to breach border defenses. Following Polish officers pushing the assault back, the Belarusians moved the migrants to the center in Bruzgi.

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