NAPO IMAGES PHOTO AGENCY

Migration crisis at the Polish-Belarussian border
Images by Piotr Malecki

The end of 2021. Thousands of illegal migrants, mainly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, are stuck on both sides of the Polish-Belarusian border. In extremely difficult autumn and winter conditions, they try to get across the green border to the European Union. In this way, the Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenka is trying to punish a neighboring country for supporting the pro-democracy movement against his rule. Poland introduces a state of emergency, deploys tens of thousands of uniformed services along the border and legalizes the so-called push-back - pushing people back across the border. At the same time, non-governmental organizations associated with the "Granica Group" try to help the most vulnerable people.