BRUZGI, Belarus — The Belarusian authorities moved to ease pressure along the country’s frontier with Poland on Wednesday, a day after the main border crossing erupted in violence, with desperate migrants hurling stones at Polish border guards who responded with tear gas and blasts from water cannons.
Hundreds of migrants are now being sheltered in a sprawling brick warehouse a few hundred yards from the crossing, a much needed bit of relief for scores of families who have spent weeks camped in freezing and fetid fields with little more than the clothes on their backs.
Western officials have called the migrant crisis a “hybrid war” engineered by the Belarusian leader, Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, to punish Poland for sheltering some of his most outspoken opponents and to pressure the European Union into lifting sanctions on his country.
But if it is a battle where migrants are used as pawns, it is also an information war. On Wednesday, the Belarusians sought to portray themselves as the humanitarians.
Yuri Karayev, an aide to Mr. Lukashenko, said that 1,100 migrants had already been moved from the area near the crossing known as “the jungle.” Some 800 people remained camped along the border, he said.
Asked whether they wanted to shut down the encampments entirely, he said, “That is our plan, that is our hope.”
Reporters from international news organizations, including The New York Times, were invited to witness the squalor and desperation at the border.
“Thank you Belarus. Thank you Belarus,” said Rebas Ali, 28, one of those being moved into shelter. “Beautiful Belarus.”
Belarusian officials insist that the humanitarian catastrophe has been created by the European Union’s refusal to abide by international law and give people fleeing war and despair the right to at least apply for asylum once they enter Poland, a member of the bloc.
Poland, eager to keep the migrants’ suffering out of the public eye, has sealed off its side of the border, barring aid workers, journalists and even doctors. On Tuesday, hundreds of migrants tried to rush into Poland, but Polish border forces used water cannons and tear gas to drive them back.
After the melee, the nationalist governing party in Poland sought to portray it as a great victory.
“Thank you to the soldiers for stopping today’s assault,” Mariusz Blaszczak, the minister of defense, tweeted on Tuesday. “Poland is still safe. All soldiers currently serving on the border will receive special financial rewards.”
He said that while the…
Read More: Belarus-Poland Border Tensions Show Signs of Easing