Chechens protest Poland’s refugee record
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Over 200 Chechens and Georgians have been stopped trying to cross from Poland into Germany by train, on their way to Strasbourg to protest against conditions in Poland’s refugee centres and the years they say it takes to be granted refugee status.
Negotiations with over 200 Chechens and Georgians, stopped while heading for Western Europe to protest against conditions in Polish refugee centers, ended after six hours on Tuesday. The group, including women and children, left the Wroclaw-Dresden train peacefully, escorted by border guards.
The protest comes just one day after Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office, said in a report that Poland was one of the most efficient European nation when granting asylum.
Officials first intervened when the train reached the south-western Polish city of Legnica and told the group to leave the train because they had no documents allowing them to travel outside Poland. But they insisted on going to Strasbourg to join a Peace March to protest against the handling of their cases by the Polish authorities and what they described as "deplorable conditions" in refugee centres.
They say have been desperately waiting for years to be granted refugee status in Poland. Until they do, they cannot find a job or a place to live.
“We have no money and no prospects for a better life,” said one man told journalists as he got off the train. An elderly man complained that he had been beaten up by someone who did not like the colour of his skin. Mothers claimed they were not given enough milk to feed their children.
The number of Chechen, and, as of late, Georgian refugees flowing into Poland has been on the rise. This year alone, these two groups filed about 9,350 applications for refugee status, which is granted to just 3 per cent of cases.
On granting asylum, Poland has a better record. Eurostat reported yesterday, however, that in 2008, Poland granted asylum seeker status to 65 percent of applicants, more than any other EU member state.
