Poland has asked Europol for help to contain the crisis on the border with Belarus. People smuggling experts from the European Police Support Service of EU countries will assist the Polish authorities, the European Commission says.
In recent months, thousands of asylum seekers have been trying to enter the EU countries Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia from Belarus. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko would bring them in from countries like Iraq and Syria and lead them to the EU’s external border to retaliate for EU sanctions.
The European Commission has been offering Poland the assistance of the European Border Guard, Asylum Service and Europol for weeks.
But Poland refused, even after Brussels’ insistence, and kept the border area sealed off. Journalists, aid workers and other snoopers are not allowed access either. Some of them report that Poland does not always treat the asylum seekers decently and sometimes crosses the border again when that is not allowed.
Lithuania and Latvia have already asked for European aid.