TV3: Some migrants have gone on hunger strike on the Latvian-Belarusian border

According to TV3, the hunger strike has been going on for more than 27 hours. Migrants give up hot food provided by the charity. The goal of the hunger strike is to finally take them to warm rooms after 14 days in the forest.

“We live in the forest with animals for 14 days,” one of the migrants told the show. “It’s cold outside. There’s no way to wash for 14 days.”

Either due to migrant language barriers or other reasons, the Latvian Border Guard is unaware of the hunger strike, TV3 points out.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Marija Golubeva (AP) urges to consider organizing a flight specifically for migrants from Riga Airport to Baghdad in Iraq. The State Border Guard would see the most realistic solution as sending an Iraqi airline’s empty plane to its compatriots in Latvia.

However, Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs (JV) says that, from the point of view of international conventions, at least in the current situation, it is not possible to simply pick up migrants and board them on a plane. We could expel them if we refused asylum applications first, but at present Latvia has essentially denied them asylum. So there is not even a reason for expulsion, TV3 points out.

Also, dozens of Iraqis do not want to return to Iraq at all because they have paid a lot of money to get to Europe.

Jauns.lv has already reported that among asylum seekers who are currently “stuck” in an uninhabited area between the Latvian and Belarusian borders, there are four children under the age of three, said Egils Grasmanis, a representative of the voluntary aid movement “I want to help refugees”.

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There are also 23 children over the age of three among asylum seekers. In total, the aid movement is known for 83 asylum seekers who are still in “nowhere”. However, the State Border Guard and medical staff are monitoring the refugees and following the situation.

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As Grasmanis noted, the nights are getting colder, so it has been asked to bring sleeping bags, thermal mats, clothes and other necessary things to the Daugavpils Red Cross so that asylum seekers can skip cold nights. For the time being, asylum seekers have been provided with special films from which tents can be made. At the same time, the issue of providing normal tents is being addressed.