The Belarusian authorities are anti-Western, and from this country’s perspective what is a concrete, tangible West? Poland. They cannot do anything about Poland, but they have Poles within their reach and they are repressing the Polish minority, said Marcin Horała, deputy minister of transport, government plenipotentiary for the Central Communication Port (Solidarity Transport Hub) in “Polityczna Kawa” of TV Republika.
The president of the Union of Poles in Belarus (ZPB), Andżelika Borys, was arrested on Tuesday and sentenced to 15 days in arrest on Wednesday for “organizing an illegal mass event”, for which the authorities recognized the annual Grodno Kaziuki Fair. On Thursday, members of the Main Board of the Union of Poles in Belarus – Andrzej Poczobut, Irena Biernacka and Maria Tiszkowska were detained. Biernacka is the head of the organization’s branch in Lida, Tiszkowska in Wołkowysk. There were also searches there on Thursday morning – in the premises of the Union of Poles in Belarus, Polish schools and the homes of activists. Anna Paniszewa, the director of the Polish School in Brest, has been in custody for several weeks.
Today, the issue of what is happening beyond our eastern border was commented on in “Polityczna Kawa”.
“They cannot do anything to Poland, but they have Poles within their reach and they are repressing the Polish minority. It is a fragment of the West within the reach of the Belarusian authorities,” assessed Marcin Horała, deputy minister of infrastructure.