Atmosphere darkens in battle of wills between Belarus and Poland

“Human beings suffer/ they torture one another, they get hurt and get hard.”

These words by Seamus Heaney have rattled around my mind while covering the unfolding humanitarian and geopolitical crisis on the Poland-Belarus border.

In temperatures fast approaching sub-zero, more than 2,500 people are camped out at the Kuznica checkpoint hoping that Polish border guards will open the gates and let them cross into Europe. That won’t happen. It won’t happen because people got hurt and they got hard.

Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus's strongman leader, is still reeling from sanctions imposed by the European Union following an election in August 2020. Lukashenko claims he won 80 per cent of the vote – many of his people disagree. He claims he didn't brutally crack down on the subsequent opposition protests – many of his people disagree with that also.

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Judicial independence has been compromised, the media landscape has been hollowed out and minority rights discriminated against

Instead of stepping down after 27 years, Lukashenko has decided to make people suffer. Those who oppose him at home are severely punished.

In May a Ryanair flight travelling from Greece to Lithuania was forcibly landed in Belarus so the regime could arrest a prominent dissident on board.

Now, in retaliation for the EU trying to hold him to account, he has used the hopes of some of the world’s most desperate people to sow discord among the bloc by putting pressure on its eastern frontier.

On the other side of this crisis is another ruling elite who are also wounded, albeit in a different way. Poland was once an EU success story but the country's ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) has increasingly pulled the nation away from Brussels' core values, most noticeably around rule of law, a cornerstone of the EU's identity.

Poland’s terms

Judicial independence has been compromised, the media landscape has been hollowed out and minority rights discriminated against. Warsaw has bucked against any tough response from Brussels and is furious that €36 billion in pandemic recovery funds is being withheld because of its actions.

So when thousands of migrants turned up on its doorstep, the Polish government was determined to deal with it on its own terms. It raised a razor fence along the border, deployed more than 12,000 troops, declared a state of emergency in the region and pushed back anyone seen attempting to cross.

In Bialystok, where I spent much of the last week, there was much support in principle for this tough approach at the border. But as the humanitarian crisis continues to worsen, Poles of all political persuasions have become uncomfortable.

This isn’t who they are, they tell me. Quite literally on the frontline are the Polish border guards, many of whom have been staying at my ramshackle hotel on the outskirts of the city.

“We have no idea what’s going to happen to these people,” one officer tells me. “It’s not a good situation at the moment and we can see that all the time.”

As the days pass you can see the toll this deployment is having on them. At first, breakfast was a jovial affair with stacks of protein and lively conversation. Later in the week it was quieter and the atmosphere heavy.

After eating, officers put on their riot gear and wait to file out in a convoy that speeds through town on its way to the border 40 minutes away. One day a young officer, no more than 20, says to me quietly on his way out, “Please don’t think we all enjoy this.”

People suffered

The people hoping to enter Poland are from all around the world. They have borrowed money or emptied their savings for an expensive package to get to Minsk, the capital of Belarus. These aren't just young men.

There are children and elderly people also. Before they arrived, some heard of the brutality of the Belarusian soldiers who refuse to let people return to Minsk once they get to the Polish border. But hope is stronger than fear and many believed the rules could change by the time they landed.

On Tuesday, delirious by lack of sleep and hunger, a few gathered the remaining energy they had to convey their anger at being used as pawns in a political game they do not understand. Rocks were thrown in the direction of Poland. A tree is chopped down and chucked on the temporary border fence that blocks their road to Europe.

Poland responded by launching their water canons. An increasingly wayward member of the European Union and an erratic strongman leader got hurt and got hard. The only thing that happened next was that people suffered.