“Refugees are like locusts, their sea”: hell is going on on the border with Finland

Finland announced the closure of its newly opened borders on December 15 at 20.00. On the same day, near two checkpoints that were still working, all hell broke loose. More than a hundred cars – cars, trucks and buses – had accumulated. In the morning, refugees from Africa and the Middle East arrived.

“We stood for more than five hours on Thursday to visit our relatives in Russia. “Everyone worked very slowly,” says the man who managed to overcome the border barrier. — On the Russian side, a similar situation has developed. It’s also full of people.

Why do people try to cross the border during these two days? The interlocutor explains: “Have you seen the prices of planes? You will have to fly to Russia through Turkey. It’s very expensive.”

We read the chat of those gathered at the border on Friday.

“In the morning there were 70 cars. The number of cars increased every hour,” a driver who was standing in front of the Niirale checkpoint towards Russia described the situation.

“Nothing is moving on the Finnish side. At the entrance to the Niirala checkpoint there is a minibus with border guards, everyone is warned about a very long wait. There are buses crowded here, with many children on them.”

“After 4.5 hours of waiting at the Finnish border, we couldn’t stand it, we turned around and went back home. Terrible time. I kindly envy those who have the opportunity to hug their loved ones in Finland today.”

“We crossed the border, there were a lot of refugees, I even saw them with children. They are selectively taken in batches and processed. There are clearly not enough employees working at the checkpoint,” the woman shares what she saw.

“Near the Syrian border there is just a sea. The police search every car. There’s a man with a machine gun standing nearby.”

The chat participants filmed a video in which it is noticeable that a child is sitting behind the refugee on a bicycle in a special device.

Russians blame refugees for their troubles. They don’t choose expressions: “They are like locusts, they climb for free, then they settle down and impose their own rules. I don’t feel sorry for them. I feel sorry for us who have reasons to cross the border.”

“We’ve been standing for about two hours right in front of the checkpoint. A crowd of refugees surrounded the cars. To be honest, it’s kind of scary. But they don’t let cars through, they’re afraid, apparently, that they’ll open it and the crowd will pour through the barriers.”

— I talked to the guys who were traveling to Finland, everyone agreed that drivers who bring refugees to the border and those who sell them bicycles should be fined. People are angry with those who help them, says one of the men who is also trying to get to Europe. —Have you seen how many Africans and Syrians are here? Huge crowds! They are now smart, they don’t freeze outside, they warm up in the cars they arrived in. Taxi drivers made good money during these two days.

As I understand it, many refugees have been spending the night here since Thursday. Someone wrote in the chat that on Friday they lay down on the road, blocked the road with bicycles, and did not allow ordinary people to pass.”

According to eyewitnesses, some of the refugees still managed to get into the neutral zone: “They are taken there in handcuffs, put in a booth, and then taken away somewhere.”

Refugee chats play out their own drama. “I have an Uzbek driver who drove to the border with passengers. He said that asylum seekers were not allowed in. What to do?”

Judging by the reports, some of the migrants risked illegally crossing the border through the forests with guides. It didn’t work out: “The youth returned from the forest. They say it’s difficult.”

Another problem that refugees have is that not everyone can ride a bicycle. “We need to study,” suggests one of the chat participants. “While we’re standing, there’s time.”

“Unfortunately, no one crosses the border. Russians and Europeans drive by normally, but our cars are stopped,” says one guy.

“We stand for 3-4 hours 20 km before the border crossing. Thirty of our cars are not allowed through. There are all nationalities here: Algerians, Somalis, Syrians, Iraqis, Sudanese.”

Meanwhile, the Finnish border service has already warned that it may not have time to let through everyone who plans to leave Finland for Russia before 20.00.