Poland's president, Andrzej Duda, today condemned the plan of the government to temporarily suspend the granting of the right of asylum in the country. He said that this would harm the members of the Belarusian opposition who are fleeing the repression in the neighboring country, Reuters reported, as quoted by BTA.
The Polish government last night approved a new migration strategy that allows it to stop accepting asylum applications if the influx of people destabilizes the country. This measure has outraged human rights advocates, but has become popular with voters ahead of next year's presidential election.
Thousands of Belarusian opposition supporters took shelter in neighboring Poland after the 2020 election, when Belarus's president, Alexander Lukashenko, won an election that critics say was rigged.
Poland has been battling a migrant crisis along its border with Belarus since 2021. Warsaw and the EU say Belarus and its ally Russia are creating the situation by funneling migrants from the Middle East and Africa to the border, something Minsk and Moscow deny .