PROTESTERS condemned the British government at the weekend for sending troops to reinforce the Polish border rather than help refugees fleeing Western-generated conflicts.

Crowds gathered outside the Polish embassy on Saturday for an emergency demo opposing the abhorrent treatment of refugees trapped at the Poland-Belarus border, following reports that police forces have tear-gassed, assaulted and fired water cannons at asylum-seekers.  

In response to Poland’s plea to its Nato allies, the British government has deployed 150 soldiers to the country where thousands of refugees, mainly from the Middle East, have been trying to cross into the European Union in recent months. 

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said the soldiers are not combat troops but “guys with diggers.” 

Condemning the order, CND’s Sophie Bolton told protesters that Britain has a direct responsibility to many of the refugees at the border, especially those from Iraq given its “central involvement” in the conflict. 

“The Polish government is presenting the refugees as a dangerous force that Poland needs to be defended from,” she said. “Refugees who’ve been allowed to die of hypothermia in the woods — this is absolutely sickening. 

“This is a humanitarian crisis not a military conflict. The Polish and British governments should be granting asylum for these refugees not whipping up hatred against them.”

Stop the War Coalition co-founder Lindsey German also stressed that the refugees “would not be on the border if we hadn’t bombed country after country.”

“When you hear that 100 British soldiers are going to Poland to build a wall to keep out refugees, I say for one as a British citizen — not in my name,” she said. 

Also addressing the demo, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told crowds that the villains of the 21st century will be Western governments who “chose to use the language of hatred and division against desperate people.”

The demo, which was supported by Polish Migrants Organise for Change, Stop the War Coalition and CND, also criticised the British government for increasing hostility against asylum-seekers crossing the Channel. 

“What’s happening on the border with Belarus and Poland is a disaster for humanity but it’s reinforced by the racism of the Boris Johnson government that seeks to demonise asylum-seekers instead of challenging the real problems in our society,” Stand up to Racism co-convenor Weyman Bennet told the Morning Star yesterday. 

On Saturday’s protest, he said: “It was great that socialists, trade unionists, refugee workers came together to oppose fortress Europe and the denigration of refugees.”