Africans and South Asians fleeing Ukraine attacked by far-right nationalists in Poland, reports say

• Africans and South Asians fleeing violence in Ukraine have been attacked by nationalists in Poland.
• Three Indians arriving at Przemyśl train station were beaten up, leading to one being hospitalized.

Several African and South Asians who crossed the border into Poland after fleeing Ukraine have been attacked by Polish nationalists, The Guardian reported.

Men dressed in black attacked non-white people who had arrived at the Przemyśl railway station and chanted "Przemyśl always Polish" and "go back to your country," the outlet reported, citing journalists from the press agency OKO, who first reported the attacks.

Police intervened in the incident, in which three Indians were beaten up, leading to one of them being hospitalized, The Guardian said.

Attackers drove around in cars with baseball bats and bottles threatening non-white refugees, Polish outlet Wyborcza said.

"I was with my friends, buying something to eat outside," Sara, 22, from Egypt, a student in Ukraine, told The Guardian.

"These men came and started to harass a group of men from Nigeria. They wouldn't let an African boy go inside a place to eat some food. Then they came towards us and yelled: 'Go back to your country.'"

Press agency OKO shared a video on social media in which aid workers described being intimidated and attacked near Przemyśl station.

There are several far-right groups active in Poland, known for hosting an annual nationalist rally to mark Independence Day, often displaying racist and white supremacist slogans.

In the last parliamentary election in October 2019, the far-right coalition party Konfederacja Wolność i Niepodległość gained 6.8% of the vote, gaining them 11 seats in Parliament, according to the monitoring group, Hope not Hate. Its candidate for presidential elections, Krzysztof Bosak, achieved a similar result but was chosen by 20% of voters under 30.

Many African and Indian students trapped in Ukraine following the Russian invasion had previously detailed being discriminated against by authorities as they tried to cross the Polish border, first reported by Insider.

In a report released Friday, Human Rights Watch said people of African descent were being prevented from leaving Ukraine in the first place, apparently to save transit space for white Ukrainians. Rugiatu Faith Maxey, a US citizen born in Sierra Leone, told the group that a driver announced that "all blacks need to get off the bus."

Police in Poland, meanwhile, warned that groups linked to the far-right have been circulating fake reports on social media about non-white refugees arriving from Ukraine committing violent attacks in Poland.

Przemyśl police chief Mariusz Ciarka told European outlet Euractiv: "There is false information in social media that serious criminal offenses have taken place in Przemyśl and border counties: burglaries, assaults and rape."

"We – the Polish police, government, and all of Europe – have to fight with disinformation and fake news that appear related to this issue and could cause an escalation of certain behaviors," he said.

Ciarka said that the disinformation undermined the country's efforts to welcome those fleeing violence and suggested Russian actors could be responsible.

Poland has been at the forefront of efforts to provide refuge for those escaping from Ukraine.

The Polish government has said foreigners without a valid visa can enter and remain for 15 days. It has committed to taking up to 1 million people.

Far-right trolls also targeted African refugees by giving them misleading advice on Telegram groups they use to communicate and advise traveling safely, as detailed in a Medium post.

One channel, called "nigerian leaving ukraine hukuma," which has over 100 users, advised Nigerians to wear yellow or red armbands to show that they are "neutral" in the conflict.

The advice aims to spread confusion, as Russian soldiers and Ukraine's civil defense forces use red and yellow armbands respectively to identify themselves, the Medium post noted.

One of the group's administrators had a profile picture displaying a white supremacist OK sign, the Medium poster noted, and the same administrator now has a display photo with a flag of "Novorossiya."

"Novorossiya," meaning "New Russia," is a historical term of the Russian Empire, now used by pro-Russia separatist rebels in parts of Ukraine.

Groups have also sprung up on Facebook to warn others of the arrival of "refugees who aren't native to Ukraine" in Poland.

The Polish Embassy in London did not respond to Insider's request for comment.