Is there a green lamp on? Then that house is ‘a safe haven’ for migrants from Belarus

Maryla Ancipiuk is happy to show how much stuff has been collected in the barracks of the volunteer fire brigade in Michalowo, half an hour from the border with Belarus. “Here’s our water supply. That’s the most important thing at the border. We meet people in the woods with bottles full of green and brown water, of course that makes them sick.”

People from all over Poland send help for migrants. The warehouse is packed full. Food, gloves, scarves, blankets, even a box of books in Polish. “We also have a lot of diapers, because there are many babies among the migrants. And look here: bottles, porridge, baby milk and baby clothes.”

Government? “We don’t have to expect anything from that,” says the deputy mayor of the town scornfully. “They don’t help, they only work against it. They impose all kinds of bans on us. They should act differently.”

Pushbacks

Michalowo is a small municipality in the border area, with about 7000 inhabitants. The place sticks out for the migrants who are stuck at the border between Belarus and Poland. Belarusian border guards drive them to Poland, Polish soldiers try with all their might to prevent them from crossing the border. Migrants are unceremoniously pushed back. Applying for asylum is not an option for them. Under international law this is not allowed, but under Polish law it is now.

Despite all efforts to stop the migrants, groups still manage to cross the border into Poland. It is impossible to say how many there are. They roam for days, sometimes weeks through the vast forests of the Podlaskie province. Poland introduced a state of emergency at the border; a zone of three kilometers is an off-limits area for journalists and aid workers.

‘I will never lose an image’

Ancipiuk is allowed to enter the zone as deputy mayor. Tears well up in her eyes when she talks about her daily encounters with migrants. “Here, look at this picture. There you see a little girl in my arms. I gave her some candy. She hugged me and kissed my hands. I’ll never forget that image.”

–