Lithuania: how to deal with the surge of migrants?
Since Belarus began allowing migrants to cross the border into Lithuania and Poland, the situation in the border area has steadily deteriorated. In Lithuania, asylum seekers are protesting the poor living conditions, and several people were found dead in the area between Poland and Belarus a few days ago. The Lithuanian press is divided over how to deal with the migrants.
Europe's Scylla and Charybdis
Journalist Liudas Dapkus describes in Delfi how the current developments are having a not entirely unwelcome chilling effect on the level of Greek mythology:
“Remember Scylla and Charybdis? The mythological monsters that lay in wait for travellers on both sides of a narrow strait. ... If travellers from Asia and the Middle East were to tell such a tale today, they too would speak of two monsters. One would be Poland, the other, Lithuania. We should try to spread this tale as widely as possible and include especially chilling details. The first episodes of the series are already being broadcast. ... The BBC aired its report 'Freezing to death on the edge of the EU'.”
Never follow the Danish example
Anthropologist Gražina Bielousova warns on Lrt that Lithuania should not follow the Danish example as some politicians are demanding:
“Denmark is making an offer (humanitarian aid and investments) that Rwanda can't refuse and is preparing to resettle undesired elements from its own country on the 'Dark Continent'. But that just means that Rwanda will remain dependent on Denmark. Denmark in turn is continuing to shift its own problems outside of Europe, exporting plastic waste to Malaysia or chemicals banned in the EU to less developed countries. Following the Danish example would be a historical disgrace. Migrants aren't rubbish, and third countries aren't dumps.”