They face great suffering during the journey
Events and photos.. Germany, the land of welcoming immigrants through Belarus
Migrants walk long distances before reaching the German border point.
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In a state of waiting and anticipation between the borders of Belarus and Poland, amid great suffering.
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Migrants at the German-Polish border.
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At the German reception center in Eisenhutenstadt near the Polish border, Siban, a 19-year-old Iraqi asylum seeker, dreams of settling in Germany, after an exhausting journey from Belarus. "I want to live here," he says.
In poor German he learned thanks to a few months of online lessons, Sipan talks about his arrival in Minsk by air from Turkey, and his eight-day walking journey through Poland to reach Germany.
"I had no water or food, and it was cold," he told AFP.
It was very tiring.”
Like him, 6,100 migrants, mostly from the Middle East, have arrived in Germany via Belarus' new "migration route," according to the authorities.
The Europeans accuse Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of airlifting migrants from the Middle East and Africa to Minsk, before sending them to Lithuania, Latvia and Poland, in retaliation for the economic sanctions imposed by the European Union on his regime.
"This is a hybrid form of threat in which immigrants use political weapons," German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said recently.
Many of them do not stay in the Baltic states or Poland and end their journey in Germany.
The country has enjoyed a good reputation since 2015, when Angela Merkel opened the country's borders to asylum seekers, for its good reception of migrants.
Migrants are not returned to Poland, as European rules stipulate in principle, but are transferred to primary reception centers for registration.
The head of the Central Office for Foreigners in Eisenhutenstadt, Olaf Jansen, told AFP that the number of arrivals to this center increased significantly in one year.
He asserts that "this rapid increase can be compared to 2015" when hundreds of thousands of migrants flocked to Germany via the Balkan route "even if the numbers were not the same" at the national level.
The capacity of the center has been expanded: about 10 tents have been set up for new arrivals, and centers dedicated to Covid examinations.
Half of the 1,300 asylum seekers are of Iraqi nationality, and the rest are mostly Syrians, Afghans, Iranians and Yemenis.
A large part of them want to stay in Germany and apply for asylum there.
"Very few would like to continue the journey to France or the Nordic countries," Jansen explains.
"I want to stay in Germany and continue my studies," says Ruhollah, a 23-year-old Afghan who arrived at the center four days ago.
Things are good here.”
In the center, some play soccer to beat boredom, amid containers and tents, while others call their relatives, sitting in the courtyard.
They all tell the same story of the grueling journey on foot from Belarus to Germany.
Zaidoun, 22, from Fallujah in Iraq, said he walked “10 days” through Poland without stopping alone, before “taking a taxi” to cross the border.
Many complain about Polish police brutality. "They (the police) are dangerous," explains Mamontzer, a 21-year-old Iraqi from Baghdad.
They beat, and they have dogs.”
To counter this influx, Berlin this week tightened border controls with Poland.
Dozens of police were blocking the exit of the bridge linking the German city of Frankfurt and the city of Slubice in Poland last Monday morning, as reporters saw.
• 6,100 immigrants arrived in Germany through the new “migration route” in Belarus, according to the authorities.
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