European Union leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, have accused the Belarusian regime of facilitating mass migration into the EU in the form of a “hybrid war” to destabilize the 27-nation bloc.
German officials said on 13 October that the number of migrants coming into the country through Poland And Belarus has increased in recent months.
German federal police said more than 4,300 people crossed the border from Poland illegally this year, with most migrants coming from Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Iran, German news agency DPA informed of.
Federal police said only 26 people who traveled by the “Belarus route” from January to July were registered, with 474 arriving in August, 1,914 in September and 1,934 arriving in the first 11 days of October.
Most of the people are being held at asylum reception centers in the eastern state of Brandenburg. Tents have been added to the regular shelters to make room for 5,000 migrants, which can accommodate 3,500 people.
“The situation is not dramatic, but it is difficult,” said Olaf Janssen, the head of the central foreigners’ office in the East German city of Eisenhuetenstadt, also worrying that the coronavirus could spread among new arrivals.
European Union leaders, including the German Chancellor Angela Merkel accused Belarusian The regime facilitating mass migration into the EU as a “hybrid war” to destabilize the 27-nation bloc.
Thousands of migrants have been taken to Belarus on tourist visas and encouraged to cross into Poland, Lithuania and to a lesser extent Latvia – all three EU countries that border Belarus.
Many recently died of exhaustion as they tried to move from Belarus to Poland over a region of forests and swamps.
In 2015–2016, more than a million people fleeing war in the Middle East have made dangerous voyages across the Mediterranean and Aegean seas in search of safety in Western Europe, and especially in Germany. But after their arrival, the EU erected concrete and razor-wire walls, installed drone surveillance and cut deals with Turkey and Libya to keep migrants away.
A much less protected route into the European Union through the forests and swamps of Eastern Europe emerged only after the EU banned the regime of authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a flawed election and harsh crackdown on protesters.
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