Refugee protest on train stopped at Polish border

Around 200 refugees from Chechnya and Georgia were stopped at the Polish town of Zgorzelec on the border with Germany as they attempted to protest living conditions in Poland, dpa reported.

Headed to the French city of Strasbourg for participation in a World Freedom Day march, they were prevented from leaving as they had neither travel documents nor train tickets.

The refugees resisted leaving the train for several hours before disembarking peacefully.

A border patrol spokeswoman said the joint Polish-German action was taken to remove the refugees as quickly, as possible as both pregnant women and small children were among their number.

The protesters, members of a refugee asylum in the central Polish town of Radom, wanted to go to Strasbourg to highlight what they described as poor living conditions and the slow processing of asylum applications in Poland.

"In Poland the pigs are better fed (than we are)," said one Chechen man.

Ewa Piechota, spokeswoman for Poland's Immigration Office, denied the refugees were poorly treated, saying that Poland guaranteed good conditions for refugees.