BBC Pidgin of Monday, 28 February 2022
Source: bbc.com
Ukraine crisis: Black and Indian students allege discrimination for border
Indian students stranded in Ukraine's big cities and at the border are frantically sending messages asking their government to evacuate them.
"We are hoping the Indian government will do something for students like us who are stuck in Kyiv and Kharkiv, either by arranging flights or by the embassy helping us get to the border," one student told BBC Punjabi.
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Some students have alleged that they were harassed at the border with Poland by Ukrainian guards. They say the guards beat them with rods and even pulled the hair of female students and stopped them from crossing over...
Videos at link below. - E
African Students Use #AfricansInUkraine To Show Racism They’re Facing While Trying To Flee Invasion
News - 2 hours ago
Jaelani Turner-Williams
African residents (particularly African students) have found themselves trapped from fleeing Ukraine as Russia continues to invade it.
African students are facing difficulties leaving the Ukraine during the current Eastern Europe conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Over the weekend, posts from African residents in Ukraine went viral, documenting them being blocked from trains and barred at crossing borders.
In most social media videos, the hostility is mainly occurring at the Ukrainian-Polish border. Africans have alleged that while white Ukrainians are able to board trains and other modes of transportation, Africans are being held back from border agents and local police.
To communicate, Africans are turning to Twitter and WhatsApp to organize social media groups, according to OkayAfrica. As they attempt to leave for neighboring countries, African citizens have noted their anxieties with whether they’ll be granted immunity. Many are worried that if once they do leave Ukraine, they won’t be granted refugee status and be dismissed...
Ukraine conflict: Nigeria condemns treatment of Africans
By Stephanie Hegarty
BBC World Service
Published
19 hours ago
Nigeria's government has condemned reports that its citizens, and those of other African countries, have been stopped from leaving war-torn Ukraine.
Isaac, a Nigerian man trying to get into Poland, said border staff told him they were "not tending to Africans".
"We've been chased back, we've been hit with police armed with sticks," he told the BBC.
South African foreign office official Clayson Monyela also said students had been "badly treated" at the border.
There have also been numerous reports of Ukrainian security officials preventing Africans from catching buses and trains going to the border.
The official visuals of Ukrainians blocking Africans from getting on trains. #AfricansinUkraine pic.twitter.com/hJYpM3LY0A
— Damilare / ViF (@Damilare_arah) February 26, 2022
— Damilare / ViF (@Damilare_arah) February 26, 2022
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter
Osemen, from Nigeria, told the BBC he had tried to get on a train in Lviv to take him to the Polish border but was told only Ukrainians would be allowed on board.
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari said there were about 4,000 Nigerians in Ukraine, mostly students.
He said one group had repeatedly been refused entry to Poland so they travelled back into Ukraine to head for Hungary instead.
"All who flee a conflict situation have the same right to safe passage under the UN Convention, and the colour of their passport or their skin should make no difference," Mr Buhari said in a tweet.
More than 500,000 Ukrainians have managed to flee the Russian invasion so far.
- Africa Live: Updates on this and other stories from the continent
- Indian students stuck in Ukraine desperate for help
University student Ruqqaya, from Nigeria, was studying medicine in Kharkiv in the east of the country when the city was attacked. She walked for 11 hours overnight before she arrived at the Medyka crossing with Poland.
"When I came here there were black people sleeping on the street," she told the BBC...
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