On Sunday (February 26), activists protested the January deaths of at least three migrants along the Polish-Belarusian border in Krakow, Poland’s Main Square.
Officials found the bodies in open fields where thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Africa have attempted to cross through Belarus into the European Union since the summer of 2021. Medical staff working along the border told news outlets in January that “about 285 people” have been reported missing over the past year and a half.
The Belarus route became popular in 2021 after the country allegedly loosened its visa processes to make it easier for migrants to enter the country and cross the border into Poland.
The move was an attempt to put pressure on the EU after the bloc sanctioned the country in response to the controversial reelection of President Alexander Lukashenko.
Over 500 people have crossed the border from Belarus into Poland already this year despite the fact a 5.5-meter fence lines it, border guards told Reuters last month.
On the other hand, hundreds of people took to the streets of Tunisia’s capital on Saturday, accusing the country’s President Kais Saied of racist hate speech against refugees.
Saied said in a National Security Council meeting last week that “illegal immigrants” from sub-Saharan Africa were part of a conspiracy to turn Tunisia into “a purely African country with no affiliation to the Arab and Islamic nations.” The country of around 12 million is home to some 20,000 sub-Saharan nationals.
Over 20 rights groups charged the Tunisian government earlier this month with targeting sub-Saharan migrants and “turning a blind eye to the rise of hateful and racist speech.”
Since then, some rights groups have warned students from sub-Saharan Africa to stay out of certain parts of the city and not to leave home without their papers.
Considerable migrants come to Tunisia to cross the Mediterranean to Italy, one of the most dangerous migration routes for people travelling by sea. In 2022, over 30,000 people made the journey. Photos
