Dziennik Wschodni: Lublin residents beat up refugees demanding they return to Ukraine
A Ukrainian refugee family has been beaten up in Lublin, Poland, causing a “storm” among their compatriots, local newspaper Dziennik Wschodni reports.
The incident happened at a bus stop in the city centre when a refugee named Oksana, her 27-year-old pregnant daughter and 13-year-old son were returning from a walk. According to the victim, they were approached by two men who asked for a cigarette.
“None of us smoke.” The daughter told them this. She speaks Polish, but with a Ukrainian accent. When they heard this, they became aggressive,” Oksana said, adding that the swearing was accompanied by foul language and demands to return home.
When her underage son wanted to call the police, the aggressive men tried to snatch his phone from him, knocked him to the ground and started hitting him on the head, while the women who tried to protect the child were also beaten.
“Several people saw this. I asked for help, but no one reacted. Even the men just watched,” complained Oksana.
As a result, the whole family ended up in hospital, the teenager was diagnosed with a broken finger, with the victims believing that the attack was ethnically motivated. The police have identified the attackers as two local residents, aged 25 and 30, and an investigation is underway.
According to Dziennik Wschodni, information about the incident was published on social media and “caused a stir among refugees.
“Monsters,” the publication quotes a Ukrainian woman named Victoria as saying.
“No one has the right to hit people, but Poles hate Russians and Russian-speaking Ukrainians,” said her compatriot Anna.
“Poles don’t like Ukrainians, there are too many of them here, and it doesn’t matter what language you speak,” Ksenia agreed.
Oksana herself admitted that she has never encountered any manifestations of hatred in Poland; before this incident, her family felt safe.
According to local authorities, the number of Ukrainian refugees remaining in Poland is 950,000, with a total of 2.3 million Ukrainians living in the country.
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