14 September 2009, 23:20
Flow of refugees from Georgia falls on Poland
Plenty of refugees from Georgia seek asylum in Poland. According to the Polish Department for Foreigners' Matters, every day about 100 citizens of Georgia apply for granting a refuge; they try to enter the country through the Polish-Belarus border check point in Terespol, a railway junction on the Polish side near Brest.
Let us remind you that on August 13, in the camp for refugees in the Polish city of Biala-Podlaska, 20 citizens of Georgia went on hunger strike. The reason of the protest, as these citizens assert, was bad treatment by Polish frontier guards. However, according to the Frontier Authority, by their hunger strike the refugees wanted to accelerate consideration of their cases by Polish authorities and sooner reception of refugee status in Poland.
In May-August this year, over 3000 Georgian citizens addressed Polish authorities with their requests for political asylum. This was reported by the "Echo Moskvy" Radio with reference to the Polish Department for Foreigners' Matters of this country.
The Polish emigration services started registering an increased flow of refugees since this May. Then, masses of Georgians began arriving to Poland via the Belarusian city of Brest and asking for refugee status.
Let us note here that during the preceding 8 years only 400 residents of Georgia had filed this sort of applications.
According to the Polish party, among the citizens of Georgia, who arrive to the country, 90 percent are Kurds.
