In February 2021, the Border Violence Monitoring Network Network (BVMN) collected 44 testimonies, accounting for the experience of 1133 people pushed back across borders in the Balkans. This report highlights the latest trends related to migration policing, offering an eye-level analysis of violent borders all the way from Turkey to Italy.
As a network comprised of grassroots organisations active in Greece and the Western Balkans, this report was produced via a joint-effort between Are You Syrious, Mobile Info Team, No Name Kitchen, Rigardu, Josoor, IPSIA, Disinfaux Collective, InfoKolpa, Centre for Peace Studies, Re:ports Sarajevo, Mare Liberum, Collective Aid and Fresh Response.
This report analyses among other things:
- Serious injury during Hungarian pushback
- Mass expulsions from Durrës, Albania
- Maritime removals to Patras
- Border incursions by Croatian police near Izačić
- Evictions in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Greece
Read the full report to find out more on these topics, plus updates on Samos, new border fencing in Evros, criminalisation of assistance in Trieste, internal transit loops in Serbia, and a further drowning case on the Croatian border. A particular feature of pushbacks during February was the use of urban policing as a means of capturing and initiating removals, showing the intersection of violence within state borders and pushbacks.
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