Zürcher Nachrichten - Media under watch on EU's frozen eastern frontier

EUR -
AED 3.997996
AFN 77.11309
ALL 99.331924
AMD 428.265673
ANG 1.963241
AOA 995.501597
ARS 1160.281397
AUD 1.719862
AWG 1.959429
AZN 1.848869
BAM 1.954394
BBD 2.199377
BDT 132.358399
BGN 1.95514
BHD 0.410327
BIF 3170.464875
BMD 1.088572
BND 1.453327
BOB 7.527721
BRL 6.3172
BSD 1.089296
BTN 95.011881
BWP 14.932528
BYN 3.564869
BYR 21336.003962
BZD 2.188166
CAD 1.563499
CDF 3130.732618
CHF 0.959962
CLF 0.026639
CLP 1022.266519
CNY 7.878918
CNH 7.879484
COP 4473.485117
CRC 544.698011
CUC 1.088572
CUP 28.847148
CVE 110.544334
CZK 25.020055
DJF 193.460892
DKK 7.459307
DOP 68.251416
DZD 145.024548
EGP 55.145082
ERN 16.328574
ETB 140.807186
FJD 2.493911
FKP 0.840874
GBP 0.839664
GEL 3.020771
GGP 0.840874
GHS 16.865882
GIP 0.840874
GMD 78.59525
GNF 9406.866986
GTQ 8.392461
GYD 227.46745
HKD 8.45732
HNL 27.858856
HRK 7.534869
HTG 143.493261
HUF 400.038603
IDR 17906.635874
ILS 3.963392
IMP 0.840874
INR 94.902208
IQD 1425.32891
IRR 45749.865354
ISK 146.457856
JEP 0.840874
JMD 170.776536
JOD 0.771752
JPY 161.455854
KES 140.726595
KGS 95.429
KHR 4360.034597
KMF 490.169632
KPW 979.760262
KRW 1582.370682
KWD 0.335368
KYD 0.902584
KZT 532.176686
LAK 23582.706796
LBP 97482.173368
LKR 321.648453
LRD 217.466347
LSL 19.809002
LTL 3.214269
LVL 0.658466
LYD 5.248699
MAD 10.528205
MDL 19.69433
MGA 5066.448717
MKD 61.373154
MMK 2284.558723
MNT 3778.47739
MOP 8.712128
MRU 42.935524
MUR 49.051002
MVR 16.809115
MWK 1887.36743
MXN 21.962915
MYR 4.805069
MZN 69.499672
NAD 19.809002
NGN 1664.363641
NIO 40.035266
NOK 11.57734
NPR 151.914709
NZD 1.897111
OMR 0.419076
PAB 1.088572
PEN 3.989982
PGK 4.438091
PHP 62.486063
PKR 305.189981
PLN 4.184682
PYG 8635.030217
QAR 3.962132
RON 4.959217
RSD 116.743198
RUB 92.743901
RWF 1536.979375
SAR 4.082375
SBD 9.22727
SCR 15.782091
SDG 653.797659
SEK 10.986344
SGD 1.448315
SHP 0.855446
SLE 24.85198
SLL 22826.805639
SOS 621.951275
SRD 39.107107
STD 22531.234939
SVC 9.525132
SYP 14153.927746
SZL 19.809002
THB 36.750766
TJS 11.872959
TMT 3.807483
TND 3.350234
TOP 2.62278
TRY 39.83605
TTD 7.399765
TWD 35.825104
TZS 2867.335146
UAH 45.055408
UGX 3994.649677
USD 1.088572
UYU 46.018611
UZS 14076.466177
VES 70.84549
VND 27665.937092
VUV 134.256103
WST 3.080715
XAF 653.559509
XAG 0.032699
XAU 0.000371
XCD 2.946094
XDR 0.817563
XOF 653.559509
XPF 119.331742
YER 268.569249
ZAR 19.937197
ZMK 9798.450373
ZMW 31.111689
ZWL 350.519621
  • RBGPF

    1.9200

    68.35

    +2.81%

  • VOD

    -0.0700

    9.16

    -0.76%

  • CMSC

    0.1400

    23.06

    +0.61%

  • AZN

    1.3300

    75.57

    +1.76%

  • GSK

    -0.6200

    38.88

    -1.59%

  • RIO

    -1.0700

    60.78

    -1.76%

  • NGG

    0.0100

    62.26

    +0.02%

  • RYCEF

    0.4800

    10.13

    +4.74%

  • SCS

    -0.2200

    11.08

    -1.99%

  • RELX

    0.5300

    47.73

    +1.11%

  • BTI

    0.3600

    41.36

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0300

    12.93

    +0.23%

  • BCE

    -0.4300

    24.35

    -1.77%

  • BCC

    0.2100

    98.21

    +0.21%

  • CMSD

    0.1553

    23.21

    +0.67%

  • BP

    0.2200

    32.2

    +0.68%

Media under watch on EU's frozen eastern frontier
Media under watch on EU's frozen eastern frontier

Media under watch on EU's frozen eastern frontier

Squeezed into the back of a military jeep driving along frozen unpaved roads on the Poland-Belarus border, a group of journalists is being taken into a restricted zone under strict surveillance.

Text size:

Soldiers with assault rifles slung over their shoulders can be seen spaced out along the EU's eastern border, patrolling lines of razor wire that stretch out as far as the eye can see.

A makeshift shelter partially covered in tarpaulin and wooden planks of wood offers some respite for the soldiers, who were deployed to the area following a sharp rise in migrant arrivals.

Nearby, a car mounted with speakers blares out a message in several languages urging migrants to stay on or return to the Belarusian side.

"Migrants are still trying to cross the border in groups of 10 or 20. Last year, it was groups of hundreds of people," said Krystyna Jakimik-Jarosz, a spokeswoman for the border guards.

The West accused the Belarusian regime of orchestrating a migrant crisis last year as a form of retaliation against EU sanctions.

Belarus has denied this and urged the EU to take the migrants in, although it has since repatriated several thousand back to the Middle East.

Confronted with a sharp increase in arrivals, Poland in September banned media and aid groups from the immediate border area citing security reasons, and put up razor wire and deployed soldiers.

Aid groups have since accused both Poland and Belarus of violating migrants' rights and media rights groups have criticised the restrictions.

The Polish Supreme Court has also declared the ban on the media "incompatible" with the law.

- 'Protect' from journalists -

Facing criticism, Poland's populist government in December began organising trips for journalists to the restricted area but only under strict controls.

"We want to show what the situation on the border looks like," Jakimik-Jarosz said, who shadowed the media group along with two border guards who hid their faces so as not to reveal their identity.

Around 100 journalists have so far been allowed in.

"At the beginning it was above all Polish media who could visit the zone. Foreign journalists had to be specially verified," the spokeswoman said.

Coverage of the start of construction this week of a border wall being built by Poland along 186 kilometres (115 miles) of frontier was also heavily restricted.

"This is about your security and ours. If something were to happen, we would be responsible," Jakimik-Jarosz said.

"But it is also to protect ourselves to ensure that we can do our job of protecting the border."

She said soldiers and border guards last year found themselves "having to protect themselves sometimes from journalists who pointed cameras in their faces and asked them to identify themselves".

Of the media ban, she added: "I understand that this is not always satisfactory for everyone".

U.Ammann--NZN