Locals helping migrants on Poland-Belarus border fear backlash

Migrants walk towards the Bruzgi-Kuznica Bialostocka border crossing in an attempt to cross the Belarusian-Polish border in the Grodno Region, Belarus November 15, 2021. Leonid Scheglov/BelTA/Handout via REUTERS

HAJNOWKA, Poland (Reuters) - Paulina Bownik says police removed her from a hospital in the Polish city of Bialystok last month when she tried to give a sick migrant papers to sign so he could seek asylum.

She had heard the migrant would soon be taken back to the border with Belarus and wanted to help him begin the asylum process. But police intervened and she says she now faces a court hearing for allegedly disturbing the peace.