Poles protest in Warsaw continuation of migrant pushback policy on Belarusian border

By Jo Harper

WARSAW (AA) – A large group of people gathered in Warsaw on Tuesday in protest against what they claim is the new Polish government’s policy of continuing pushbacks on the Polish-Belarusian border.

“We were hopeful the new government would change things, but they have actually gotten worse,” Karolina Mazurek, a volunteer at the Podlaskie Volunteer Humanitarian Emergency Service (POPH) and co-organizer of the protest, told Anadolu.

The protesters called for an end to pushbacks of people crossing the border with Belarus. "We have to abide by Polish and international law," one protester told Anadolu. "This is what we fought for over many years."

In 2021 and 2022 several thousand people from Africa and the Middle East were pushed into Poland by the Belarusian authorities, in a move that Warsaw and Brussels said was deliberately designed to cause havoc at the border. Poland has since built a fence and is planning more security infrastructure at the border, but there has been a recent spike in numbers in the runup to European elections this week.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk has taken a tough stance on the issue, saying that the “survival of Western civilization” depends upon preventing “uncontrolled migration.”

Tusk announced on May 29 that the government would launch "all possible measures to protect the border with Belarus and the officers serving there." The only solution is a "buffer zone" at the border, he said, adding that, at the request of the services, the government would restore the 200-meter zone set up by the previous government, while the draft regulation indicated it would be over 5 km long in some places. This came after a migrant stabbed a soldier and Border Guard officers with a knife on May 28.

“Human rights are extremely important to us, but we must remember that the people pushed by Belarusians across our border play a dual-use role. On the one hand, the regime wants to divide us. On the other hand, we have an obligation under international law, which should oblige us to certain behaviors that are de facto impossible to fulfill at the moment,” said Witold Zembaczynski, an MP from the Civic Coalition.

The new government rejected a call signed by hundreds of NGOs and public figures in May calling to end the practice of “pushbacks.”

It has set up special search-and-rescue teams to help migrants who have crossed into the country from Belarus in 2024, as part of what it says is a more humanitarian approach to the crisis.

“There is no such thing as humanitarian pushbacks,” Mazurek said.